Takara Korea Biomedical Inc. (TKB: Seoul), an affiliate of the Biomedical Group of Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd., agreed to start up a research and development division with equity investment from three Korean corporations, including Samsung Corporation (Samsung Corp.) and Pulmuone Group, as of September 8.

Takara Korea Biomedical Inc. (TKB) will receive equity investment from Samsung Corp., Korea's largest trading company, Korea Biotech Investment Capital (KBIC), an affiliate of Korea's natural foods industry leader Pulmuone Company, and Kilcheon Logistics Co., Ltd. (Kilcheon), an affiliate of Samsung Corporation. The three firms will acquire new shares issued to a third party, resulting in an equity stake of 4.1% for Samsung Corp., 3.4% for KBIC, and 1.0% for Kilcheon.

Takara's Biomedical Group formed Bohan Biomedical Inc. in 1995 with a capital of 660 million won (approx. 66 million yen), to market biotechnology products, such as reagents for diverse recombinant DNA technologies, in the Korean market. In May of this year we increased our capital by approximately 2.69 billion won (approx. 269 million yen), changed our company name to Takara Korea Biomedical Inc., and worked to start up a development and manufacturing facility to provide us with a base for the development and manufacture of DNA chips, to add to our existing business of marketing genetically engineered reagents. The new facility was completed in August (Wang City). We are presently transferring DNA chip technology from our biotechnology division.

The Biomedical Group currently markets DNA chips in countries and regions around the globe, including Japan, the USA, Europe, and Korea. The DNA chips developed and manufactured at TKB are likewise slated to be marketed not only in Korea but worldwide as well. Additionally, Takara Biotechnology (Dalian) Co., Ltd., the Chinese affiliate of the Biomedical Group, is in the process of setting up a low-cost production system for DNA chips. With the newly strengthened DNA chip business of our Korean affiliate, we believe that we can set up a three-way system whereby chips with revolutionary functionalities are developed in Japan, new DNA chips are developed and manufactured in Korea, and DNA chips are mass produced in China.

We intend to build strategic partnerships with the cooperation of such Korean giants as Samsung Corp. and Pulmuone Group in our efforts to boost the sales of Takara's biotechnology products both inside and outside of Korea.

This article is translated from press release in Japanese for your convenience.