Chinese investors to buy Italian medical device group Esaote

A consortium of Chinese investors, including a private equity fund co-founded by Alibaba's Jack Ma, will buy all the outstanding shares of Italian medical device group Esaote, according to a statement released by Esaote on Thursday.

The deal will help the company expand in the Chinese medical equipment market, while Esaote's R&D capabilities, brand, product lines and distribution network will benefit the Chinese consortium, the statement said.

No financial details were revealed. And Reuters citing a source with knowledge of the matter said that the deal was based on Esaote's value of more than 300 million euros ($354 million).

Along with financial investors in the healthcare area, the Consortium includes medical technology and healthcare companies, such as China’s largest listed diagnostic imaging equipment group Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co and Shanghai Kangda Medical Equipment Group Corporation, the largest supplier of general radiation service equipment and MRI equipment in China.

Karl-Heinz Lumpi, CEO of Esaote, said in the statement," We look forward to learning from and leveraging their [new shareholders] deep knowledge and experience of the Chinese market where the potential for growth is significant, especially considering that the ultrasound sector alone is worth nearly 1.3 billion euros in China”.

The transaction is expected to be wrapped up in early 2018.