Legend gets teeth into dental sector

Lenovo's major investor to invest 1b yuan in iByer for expansion of operations

Legend Holdings Ltd, the major shareholder in the world's biggest personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd, announced it will enter China's healthcare market as it signed an agreement with iByer Dental Group on Monday.

Legend, focusing on IT, investment and real estate, will initially invest around 1 billion yuan in Beijing-based iByer.

Meanwhile, iByer Dental Group, which was established in 1993, announced it would be renamed Bybo Dental Group.

"It is an opportunity for us to grab a market share in the promising healthcare industry. We will provide value-added services for Bybo in terms of capital, strategy, management, branding, etc," said Zhu Linan, president of Legend Holdings Ltd.

As a long-term strategic investment, Legend will add more capital based on the future needs of iByer, said Zhu.

Zhu added that the reason behind the choice of a dental company among various sectors in China' healthcare market exists in iByer's chain operation model.

"It is much more difficult to work with public hospitals because it will take a long time for them to became market-oriented amid China's latest healthcare reforms," said Zhu.

Legend's move echoes the government's call for the market to play a bigger role in reforming the medical sector.

Based on its current 16 departments and 100 branches around the country, Li Changren, president of Bybo, said the company would establish more than 200 branches in 50 cities by the end of 2017 to gain a pole position in China's dentistry market.

Bybo will build new facilities in big cities, and also buy local clinics, but it will not establish any franchises. "We hope to maintain and improve the quality of our service," Li said.

"We will also expand into downstream industries, including research and development of medical facilities, to open up the dental medical supply sector," said Li.

According to the China Dental Industry Report (2012-14), issued by Researchandmarkets.com, the proportion of adults among orthodontic patients in China has grown from 20 percent a decade ago to 30 percent at present.

The report estimates that the number of false teeth will soar to 500,000 in the coming five years from 100,000 at present.

"Driven by growing awareness of dental health among consumers and the government's decision to promote private hospitals, it is the right time for the partnership to enter the industry," said Wang Xing, president of the Chinese Stomatological Association.

There are currently more than 600 million odontopathy patients in China. Dental implantation in China started about 10 years ago, compared with a history of nearly 50 years in the United States.