On April 2, Marubeni Corporation announced that it was purchasing a stake in the Asian pharmaceutical business of Sumitomo.
Marubeni is purchasing a 60% stake for ¥45 billion ($300 million). After 2029, Marubeni can take on the remaining 40% stake from Sumitomo for some ¥27 billion ($180 million). There is a total enterprise value of ¥72 billion ($480 million). A purchase price of $500 million represents the 100% stake of the company.
Sumitomo is a biopharmaceutical company focused on delivering therapeutic and scientific breakthroughs in areas of critical patient need in oncology, urology, women’s health, rare disease, cell and gene therapies and psychiatry and neurology. Sumitomo’s Asia pharma business comprises three outfits across China and in Singapore and achieved estimated 2024 revenues of ¥45.8 billion ($305 million) in 2024.
Founded more than 165 years ago, Marubeni Corporation is one of Japan’s largest trading companies. With more than 50,000 employees, Marubeni is involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors including lifestyle, food and agriculture businesses, metals/mineral resources, energy/chemicals, power/infrastructure services, finance, real estate business, aerospace and business development.
The deal is expected to help Marubeni get its sales to more than ¥100 billion ($668 million) by 2029.
According to data in the LevinPro HC database, this marks the 12th Pharmaceuticals transaction of 2025. It is the second largest Pharmaceuticals deal by purchase price of the year, so far. There were 66 Pharmaceuticals acquisitions reported in 2024, and 107 in 2023.
