BioKyowa facility among businesses sold to Chinese amino acids supplier

A Cape Girardeau business is one of several that is being spun off by a Japanese pharmaceutical group to a Chinese enterprise.

On Nov. 22, 2024, the Tokyo-based Kyowa Hakko Bio and its parent Kirin Holding Company announced they would be carving out their amino acid and human milk oligosaccharide businesses, among them Cape Girardeau's BioKyowa. Ownership would be transferred to a subsidiary of MEIHUA, a Chinese amino acids group based in Langfang, Hebei Province. The subsidiary is known as Plum Biotechnology Group, based in Singapore.

In an email to the Southeast Missourian, Pat Feeney, BioKyowa’s plant manager and chief operating officer, said a MEIHUA executive visited the 5469 Nash Road amino acids facility to meet with members of Feeney’s leadership team on Friday, Jan. 10.

“The main purpose of his visit was to introduce us to MEIHUA and to reassure us that our current production processes will continue as usual and our entire staff will remain employed,” he said.

Feeney said production levels of amino acid would remain the same after ownership changes hands.

He also said the business’s stock would be held by an as-yet-undetermined American or Singaporean company. A name change is also possible in the future.

“We hope to learn more as we progress through this transition, but we will continue to contribute to the local economy through our business in the future,” Feeney said.

Opening in 1984, BioKyowa marked the first major plant investment by a Japanese company in Missouri. It started out producing feed supplements for the swine and poultry markets, but over time its amino acids have been used in the likes of cosmetics and nutritional supplements.

Kyowa Hakko Bio’s amino acid businesses had a revenue of 24 billion yen, or $154.6 million, in the 2023 fiscal year. The Nov. 22 news release said Kirin and Kyowa Hakko Bio had been considering structural reforms, considering medium- to long-term profitability prospects of the amino acids market.

MEIHUA would pay 10.5 billion yen, or $67.6 million, in cash for ownership rights to BioKyowa and other businesses. Afterward, Kyowa Hakko Bio would focus on the specialty materials business.

The business transfer is expected to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2025.

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