Alibaba Health Information Technology (Ali Health), a pharmaceutical subsidiary of e-commerce group Alibaba, has agreed to pay approximately RMB422m ($61.3m) for a 14.5% stake in China-based pharmaceutical retail chain Guizhou Ensure Chain Pharmacy.
Ali Health has also secured first right to invest another $59m in order to increase its share of the company to 25% should Guizhou Ensure Chain raise additional capital.
The corporate shares first right with pharmaceutical group DaShenLin and the Huatai Fund, though it is not clear when either of those parties secured their options.
Guizhou Ensure Chain operates more than 1,000 pharmacy outlets across China through a range of subsidiaries.
Ali Health will collaborate with Guizhou Ensure Chain on business models that will help the pharmacy chain attract more customers.
The corporate noted in a regulatory filing that the investment is in line with its vision of “facilitating medicine through big data and using the internet to change the face of healthcare to provide fair, affordable and accessible medical and healthcare services to 1 billion people.”