Bottom line: China’s anti-trust regulators need to wake up to the growing clout of big nmes like Tencent and Ctrip in emerging industries and move more aggressively to stop them from engaging in anti-competitive behavior.
iKang accuses rival of monopoly behavior
A war of words broke out last week between two of China’s largest private clinic operators, as one accused the other of violating the nation’s anti-monopoly laws with a recent purchase. The case pitting iKang (Nasdaq: KANG) against larger rival Health 100 (Shenzhen: 002044) casts a spotlight on growing concerns about anti-competitive behavior in China’s vibrant private sector, which boasts many companies whose size is already approaching some of the nation’s largest state-run giants.
And yet despite the size of these companies and increasing cases of anti-competitive behavior, China’s anti-monopoly regulators have largely ignored the domestic private sector, focusing instead on big foreign and state-run firms. The validity of iKang’s accusations against Health 100 still need to be proven, since China’s private clinic sector is still very young and may not have the scale to qualify for monopoly consideration. Read Full Post…
Let’s take a break from the usual tech and trade war chatter today to look at the healthcare sector, focusing on the newly released maiden results from private clinic operator iKang (Nasdaq: KANG). The results look relatively solid but unspectacular, though that didn’t stop investors from dumping iKang’s shares in after-hours trade after the report came out. Even if that 17 percent sell-off holds in regular trading on Tuesday, iKang’s shares are still up about 40 percent from their IPO price back in April. Read Full Post…
A few news bits and data points are spotlighting the big potential in China’s healthcare market over the next few years for companies that can tap into an overhaul of the national medical system. While that news looks good for healthcare companies overall, the limited universe of publicly traded firms available to western investors looks a bit spottier due to individual company issues. Regulatory issues could also be a risk, as highlighted by a new price fixing ruling against US drug giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JJ). Still, there could be some interesting buying opportunities for the right companies. Read Full Post…
