Private Equity Beware: Botox Could Be China’s Next Target
Young women account for 80% of China’s medical aesthetics market. It may not be long before a People’s Daily editorial calls botox a ‘mental toxin.’
China’s botox market is expanding.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. is worth watching. The $243 billion sovereign wealth fund has the first pick of the hottest startups and trends. Its long investment horizon also allows it to be patient, to venture into fields that private equity would think twice about. Its success with chip maker GlobalFoundries Inc., which it nurtured for over a decade and is preparing for a blockbuster initial public offering, is a good example.
So it’s a curious move that Mubadala is part of the consortium buying out Bain Capital’s controlling stake in Hugel Inc., a South Korean company that produces beauty goods including botulinum toxin, commonly known as botox. The $1.5 billion deal did not come cheap, valuing Hugel at a whopping 34.3 times Ebitda. Hugel’s shares tumbled about 16% in the three days after the news broke.