AB-Biotics, the Catalan biotech integrated since 2019 into the Japanese group Kaneka, has entered China with Wonderlab, one of the most important food supplement companies in the country. In the coming days, the two companies will launch their first joint product, Shape100, a probiotic developed in collaboration with the Sant Pau hospital that improves cholesterol and promotes weight control.
Miquel Àngel Bonachera, executive director of the firm that he founded together with Sergi Audivert, explained that the entry into China is a milestone for the company that already sells its products in 70 countries, and that closed 2023 with sales of 33 million euros. .
“Shape100 is a product supported by five clinical studies that offers a natural alternative to statins,” says Bonachera, who recalls that the company specialized precisely in launching probiotics with scientific backing, for which it allocates 25% of its income to I D. “We have 14 probiotic formulas, and 200 patents in nine therapeutic areas,” he points out. The company does not sell to the final consumer, but to other companies: to some it manufactures the finished product, while to others, such as Wonderlab, it sells the active ingredient.
The growth in sales (which have almost doubled compared to the 17.4 million in 2021) has led the company to buy its own factory, the old Alifarm, in Lliçà de Vall. “Now we manufacture in nine plants, but the intention is to concentrate production in ours,” he says. The company has doubled the productive capacity of the plant since it acquired it in 2022, “but it is not enough” to internalize its production.
AB-Biotics has accelerated its growth and profitability with its integration into Kaneka and the sale of its US subsidiary Neurofarmagen, for which it earned 8 million euros. Thus, in 2023, with 33 million in revenue, the firm obtained 11 million in operating profit or EBITDA and 8 million in net profit. “We are reaping the fruits of all the investment effort in R&D that we have been making for 20 years, when we founded the company at the UAB,” he says.
AB-Biotics, after a decade listed on the MAB, was acquired in 2019 by Kaneka, which controls 87.24%. The two co-founders control 5.98% each, while another 0.8% are minority shareholders who did not attend the exclusion takeover bid launched by Kaneka. “They have very small stakes, some just one share – which was valued at 5 euros in the takeover bid – and we have not been able to locate them to buy back their titles,” he says.