On December 29, 2023, Haier group announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with kirifu (Madrid stock exchange stock code: GRF, Nasdaq stock code: GRFS), one of the world's three major blood products giants.

according to the cooperation agreement, Haier group will acquire 20% of the shares of Shanghai race blood products co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai race", 002252.SZ) held by kirifu for a total price of 12.5 billion RMB, and obtain a total of 26.58 of the voting rights. This means that after the board of directors of Shanghai Laishi completes the reorganization of the board of directors in accordance with the "Strategic Cooperation and Share Purchase Agreement", Haier Group will become the actual controller of Shanghai Laishi.

Founded in 1984, Haier Group is the world's leading provider of better living and digital transformation solutions. Many years ago, Haier Group began to layout the big health industry track, to create a big health ecological brand-Yingkang life. Yingkang Lifetime owns two listed companies, Haier Bio (688139.SH) and Yingkang Life (300143.SZ), whose main business is the research and development, production and application of high-end scientific research equipment, medical devices and medical service solutions.

Shanghai Laishi was established in 1988. Its main business is the production and sales of blood products. Its main products are human albumin, intravenous immunoglobulin, specific immunoglobulin, coagulation factor products, etc. It is currently the largest in China One of the blood products manufacturers. According to the 2022 annual report, Shanghai Laishi achieved operating income of 6.567 billion billion yuan for the whole year, up 53.16 percent from the same period last year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 1.88 billion billion yuan, up 45.24 percent from the same period last year.

The blood product industry chain includes all aspects of collection, storage, preparation, diagnosis, and clinical application. Previously, Haier Group has formed an industrial ecology in the upstream of the blood industry chain (collection, storage, preparation, cold chain transportation) and the downstream of the industry chain (clinical application). The achievement of this strategic cooperation will enable Yingkang to complement and strengthen the key links in the middle and lower reaches of the whole life, such as preparation and diagnosis, so as to further improve its layout of the blood ecological industry chain.

according to the plan, after the completion of the transaction, Haier Group will support Shanghai Les to continue to increase investment in research and development, and use the Internet of Things scenario solution to optimize supply chain management, promote the digitalization and intellectualization of process management from "blood vessels" to "blood vessels", and realize the whole process visualization and value chain promotion. Haier Group will also use its long-term accumulated advantages in intelligent manufacturing, lean management and corporate governance to empower Shanghai Rex to meet the urgent needs of society for high-quality blood products with better and safer products.

The 14th Five-Year Plan and the 2025 long-term goal outline put the protection of people's health in the strategic position of priority development. Blood products are an indispensable link to protect people's health. In medical emergency and the prevention and treatment of some specific diseases, blood products have irreplaceable importance of other drugs.

Southwest Securities Research and Development Center analyst Du Xiangyang said in a research report, affected by the epidemic, China's hospital visits in 2022 has declined. In 2022, the average number of hospital visits in China was 0.33 billion, down 5.2 percent year-on-year. In 2023, China's routine diagnosis and treatment activities recovered, and the demand for blood products increased rapidly. In March 2023, China's hospitals treated 0.38 billion people, up 11.5 percent year-on-year, and the recovery in diagnosis and treatment is expected to drive rapid growth in demand for blood products in 2023.

At present, the market structure of blood products in China is very different from that in the world, and there is a gap of at least 10 times between the per capita consumption of blood products and the United States. According to the statistics of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the market space of China's blood products industry is expected to increase to about 78 billion yuan in 2027, and the compound growth rate will reach 11.6 from 2022 to 2027.

Tan Lixia, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice President of Haier Group, said: "The achievement of this strategic cooperation has further improved the layout of Yingkang's life-long blood industry chain and is a key process for us to go deep into the core areas of medical health. Shanghai RAISE's pursuit of safety, quality and innovation complements Haier's user-centric philosophy of excellence. We look forward to working closely with Shanghai Laishi and Kliford to enhance the integration and innovation of the blood ecological industry chain and contribute to the high-quality development of the big health industry."

While Haier Group signed the merger and acquisition, Kili Fu also reached a long-term strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Laishi. After the completion of the transaction, the term of the exclusive albumin agency agreement signed by Kili Fu and Shanghai Laishi will be extended for ten years, and on this basis, the right to renew for ten years will be obtained. This will actually give Shanghai Laishi the exclusive agency of Kilifook for twenty years.

After the transaction is completed, Kili Fu, one of the world's three major blood products giants, will continue to hold 6.58 per cent of Shanghai Rex and retain a seat on the board of directors.

"China is at the heart of our growth strategy," said Grifols

Raimon, Chief Corporate Officer, Kilifook. "We are excited to join forces with global innovation leader Haier to share our commitment to innovation, quality and safety. With this collaboration, we will be able to support the development of China's healthcare system with a better service offering innovative medicines and diagnostic solutions for patients."

Xu Jun, Chairman and General Manager of Shanghai RAAS, said: "We very much welcome Haier's strategic investment in Shanghai RAAS, and thank Haier for its trust in us and confidence in the future development of the industry. Their user-centered concept is highly consistent with our patient-centered concept in Shanghai RAAS. With Haier's advanced management experience and global resource advantages, we will continue to improve product technology and technological innovation capabilities, and hope to become a competitive and innovative company in China and even the world."