SINGAPORE (June 11): Johnson Chen, chairman of Clearbridge Health, has been actively buying shares in the medical company in recent weeks. On June 4, he bought 75,000 shares at an average price of 43 cents. The following day, he spent $71,850.50 to buy another 170,000 shares at 42.3 cents each. With these purchases, Chen owned 76.5 million shares, or 15.63% of the company as at June 5. Prior purchases made included 120,000 shares at 43.5 cents each on May 31, 100,000 shares at 44.8 cents each on May 25 and 80,000 shares at 42.1 cents each on May 22.
Besides Chen, the company’s CEO, Jeremy Yee, has been buying shares in Clearbridge too. On May 25, Yee, formerly the CEO of another medical company, Cordlife Group, bought 20,200 shares for $8,888. That works out to an average price of 44 cents. That purchase brought Yee’s total direct stake to 651,200 shares, or 0.13% of the company. He controls more shares indirectly via QED Innovate, which is Clearbridge’s largest shareholder with a 23.98% stake. Yee’s two earlier, direct purchases were of 20,000 shares at 42.5 cents apiece on May 23 and 41,000 shares at 42 cents each on May 22.
Clearbridge was listed on the Catalist board last December. The all-placement exercise at 28 cents per share raised $21.4 million in net proceeds.
With the newly raised capital, Chen and Yee began to execute their aggressive growth plan across the region. Chen, who used to work at Pacific Century CyberWorks, is well known in the local science-based start-up community. Yee was at Cordlife for a total of 14 years, first as chief financial officer, then CEO, before leaving in March 2016.
Following the IPO, Clearbridge ensured there was a steady news flow as management undertook acquisitions to widen and deepen its reach. Within just three months, it had announced three acquisitions.
On May 15, Clearbridge announced that it had secured bank facilities amounting to $5.6 million to help fund two recently completed acquisitions: Indonesia-based renal care services provider PT Tirta Medika Jaya and Singapore-based medical and aesthetic services provider Medic Surgery and Laser Clinic (MSLC). Of the total cash consideration for these two acquisitions, 40% was funded by Clearbridge’s IPO proceeds and the remainder by bank borrowings.
On the same day, Clearbridge reported revenue of $377,000 for 1QFY2018 ended March 31 — up from just $1,000 in the year-earlier period, when its operations had yet to begin functioning in a meaningful way. Losses for the quarter came in at $1.79 million, from a marginal profit of $192,000 a year ago, when, in the absence of operating revenue, profit was boosted by the fair-value gain on associates of nearly $1.2 million.
“The sharply improved set of results is a testament to our success in integrating the medical clinics and centres into our fold and underscores the strong growth prospects of this segment,” Yee says in a statement. “It also affirms our confidence that the two newest healthcare services providers, MSLC and PT Tirta… will contribute to the group’s revenue growth and are expected to have a positive impact on the group’s revenue and Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in the current financial year.”
He says the acquisitions were made “not solely for earnings accretion” but to gain “entry into highly densely populated countries, to expand and introduce new products and services, to increase economies of scope”.
On April 27, the company announced that its collaboration with the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute — in place since 2016 — would be extended. Clearbridge says the collaboration will help boost its range of laboratory testing services available.
As at March 31, Clearbridge held a cash and cash equivalent balance of $22.85 million. Its net asset value per share stood at 12.36 cents, down slightly from 12.67 cents as at Dec 31, 2017. Year to date, its shares have gained 12.7%, closing at 40 cents on June 5.
