Recently, Shanghai INT Medical Instruments Co., Ltd. (Stock Code:HK1501) Joined hands with the special M&A fund under Shanghai Science and Technology Venture Capital Co., Ltd. ("Shanghai Sci-Tech Investment Fund") and officially signed the equity acquisition agreement with relevant shareholders of Hangzhou Wei Qiang Medical Technology Co., Ltd. ("Wei Qiang Medical").

According to the agreement,INT Medical and Shanghai Science and Technology Investment Fund Plan to Acquire More Than 81% The equity,The total cost is approximately RMB5.13100 million yuan.Among whichINT MedicalIn3.24100 million yuanTake Over Wei Qiang Medical 51% Controlling interest, becoming the new owner of this star enterprise combining medicine and engineering.

This acquisition was initiated long ago 2024 Year 12 As early as last month, signs had already emerged when INT Medical and Wei Qiang Medical signed a letter of intent for acquisition. Now, the deal has finally been settled.

Wei Qiang Medical was founded in2018Year, focusing on the field of cardiovascular intervention, its product line covers the entire cycle of solutions during and after the operation.The core advantage of the company lies in "the combination of medicine and engineering."——Product design deeply integrates feedback from clinicians, such as the already marketed high-precision consumables like coronary interventional catheters and guidewires.Currently, there are4INT Medical's intracavitary interventional treatment product approved for the "13th Five-Year Plan" National Key R&D Project.4The product has been approved to enter the "Green Channel" for innovative medical device review in China.

However, this technically solid company chose to "sell itself."

The reason is that,Increased industry competition and capital pressure are key factors.In recent years, giants like LePu and MicroPort have flooded into the cardiovascular intervention sector. Coupled with the price restructuring driven by centralized procurement policies, small and medium-sized enterprises face high R&D costs and struggle to penetrate the market.

According to the announcement disclosed by INT Medical, as of 2024 Year 12 Month 31 Date, Wei Qiang Medical's net profit after tax is - 5825 Ten thousand yuan, net asset value is - 6148 tens of millions, showing a state of continuous losses and negative net assets. This meansThe company had fallen into insolvency before the acquisition and its ability to continue as a going concern was highly dependent on external capital injection.

It is worth noting that Wei Qiang Medical once 2020 Obtained through intellectual property pledge in the year2000 A loan of 10,000 yuan to alleviate financial pressure; at the time of this acquisition, the company had still not reversed its loss situation.

From this perspective,Wei Qiang Medical, despite holding core technology, lacks the ability for scaled expansion; thus, introducing strategic investors has become an essential choice for survival and breakthrough.

After the news of Wei Qiang Medical's sale was exposed, a fierce bidding war broke out. A large number of investors swarmed in, including some industry giants.There were even rumors that top foreign enterprise Medtronic showed strong interest in Wei Qiang Medical, and the two parties were once rumored to be in a "close relationship."

However, this bidding drama ultimately ended with INT Medical's victory.

It is worth mentioning that,This acquisition, from a certain perspective, is an unconventional takeover of a "big product" company by a company mainly focused on "small products."

INT Medical previously focused on interventional accessories such as pressure pumps, angiography catheters,Y Starting from low-value consumables such as valves, contrast guidewires, and catheter sheaths in the traditional sense, while Wei Qiang Medical's products lean more towards the high-value sector; this acquisition is considered a cross-border capital operation.

For INT Medical, this acquisition is of great significance:

• Complete Product Matrix: INT Medical previously started with "low-value consumables" in the interventional pathway, while Wei Qiang Medical's vascular interventional devices are "major products" with high profit margins and high technical barriers. After the acquisition, it can directly enter the field of cardiac interventional therapy.

  
  

• Accelerate the substitution of domestically produced products：The high-end cardiovascular intervention market has long been monopolized by foreign capital. The combination of Wei Qiang Medical's innovative products and INT Medical's channel network is expected to break the import barrier.

  
  

• Coping with the Impact of Centralized Procurement: Centralized procurement has compressed the profit margins of low-value consumables, and INT Medical needs to enhance its profitability through technological upgrades. Wei Qiang Medical's high-value product line is the key focus.

INT Medical2024The annual report shows that its total revenue for the year8.52100 million yuan, net profit1.9100 million yuan, with gross margin climbing to63.11%As an "invisible champion" in the interventional access consumables field, INT Medical's performance growth undoubtedly benefits from the strong tailwind of domestic substitution in China. But behind these impressive figures, there are also hidden concerns.

The company is highly dependent on interventional access consumables, and the centralized procurement policy has led to price reductions of some products exceeding60%At the end of last year, Gansu took the lead for the first time24The provincial alliance conducts bulk procurement of peripheral vascular interventional consumables.According to industry insiders:"Prices of microcatheters and microguidewires have hit rock bottom, dropping to hundreds of yuan; embolic microspheres have been reduced to1000"Diversity, the results are very surprising."

PriceUnder the dual pressures of stress and cost control, some companies are even operating at a loss just to make a show.......

Against this backdrop, INT Medical seems to be following the growth path of Japan's Terumo:Building on low-value consumables and extending to high-value devices through acquisitions. Achieving a stunning transformation for the company from "small and specialized" to "large and powerful."

This 5.13 The large-scale M&A deal worth hundreds of millions is not only a convergence of the destinies of two enterprises but also a microcosm of the reshaping of China's medical device industry landscape. Against the backdrop of accelerating domestic substitution and the normalization of centralized procurement policies, the trend of medical device companies expanding their business territories through M&A and resource integration has become increasingly evident.

Can INT Medical Successfully Achieve Strategic Transformation After Acquiring Wei Qiang Medical? What Chain Reactions Will It Bring to China’s Domestic Medical Device Industry? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section, and let’s discuss the future direction of China’s domestic medical device industry together!