Shanghai's SARI Pays $359M for Italian Cancer Biopharma NMS

Nerviano (Milano), December 27, 2017 - SARI, a Chinese market-leader biotech investment company, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the 90% interests in Group NMS.

Headquartered in Nerviano, near Milano, Italy, NMS is a group of fully integrated companies owned by Regione Lombardia through Fondazione Regionale per la Ricerca Biomedica, focused on oncology drug discovery, preclinical research, clinical development and manufacturing.

"The NMS Group is highly aligned with our existing strategy in oncology, and we are extremely excited about the opportunity to integrate the existing top-class level of the research into our universal platform. In the near term, we will focus on expanding NMS current activities in the Chinese market but we will continue the cooperation with NMS international network of partner and customer" - said Dr. Yi Baxian, representative of SARI, who used to serve as president in two national pharmaceutical research institutes in China "The Chinese market is large and growing, with many unmet needs. With our strong commercial capabilities and robust scientific reputation, we look forward to bringing the innovative drugs discovered in Nerviano to the large Chinese patient population, allowing them to improve their quality of life." Dr. Yi also added, "we have a substantial understanding of the nature of discovery and R&D in pharmaceutical area. We are aware of the challenges that NMS Group, as an innovation-oriented company are currently facing and will face in the future. We are well prepared to walk alongside with NMS Group and provide support from all aspects."

The parts expect the closing in the first quarter 2018.

"NMS shares Sari's mission to help people live longer, better lives through top class research. We are proud of the job we made together with Sari team. This acquisition will benefit all the life science business environment in Lombardia, our shareholders and most of all, the research which is the heart of everything we do," - said Andrea Agazzi, NMS Chairman. "The deal is the culmination of several years of hard work by our team of dedicated professionals. We welcome the opportunity to become part of the Sari network if companies and research centers and we look forward to the continued evolution of our pipeline of molecules."

Sari has been assisted by Bank of China International (China) Limited as solo financial advisor and by Studio Legale Pedersoli as legal advisor. Bank of China Ltd Milan Branch offered help in the transaction. NMS Group has been assisted by Leonardo&Co as financial advisor and by CMS as legal advisor.

About Investor

SARI is an affiliate of Shanghai Advanced Research Institute. SARI focuses on investment in cutting-edge bio-technology and life-science opportunities, especially targeted cancer therapy.

For this transaction, SARI, as the leading investor, has established a specific fund together with Hicin Pharma, V-capital and FeiDong Investment.

NMS Group 

NMS Group is the largest company in Italy committed in innovation and research and development in oncology. With more than 420 total employees, NMS Group employs over 200 qualified researchers involved in research and development, to production. The discovery and applied research of Nerviano Medical Sciences define the innovative heart of the Group and make it an important and international reference in the field of personalized therapy. In these recent years the Centre has capitalized its discoveries in international agreements with most representative pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide, such as Ignyta for Entrectinib. NMS also provides pre clinical, clinical and production services addressed to local and international markets, through three different companies: Accelera, one of the few companies engaged in preclinical research in Italy; Clioss engaged in clinical development starting from First-Time-In-Man and Nerpharma, dealing with activities from formulation to production of the active principle.