Alibaba sells medical assets to Hong Kong arm for $10.6b

Alibaba Health Information Technology will control the Tmall and adult products business.

Bloomberg reports that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is selling its medical assets for $10.6b to its Hong Kong-listed arm, Alibaba Health Information Technology, which will then serve as its main healthcare business.

The e-commerce giant will combine online Tmall pharmacy to its adult product business into Alibaba Health but will still control 56.2% economic interest and 67.5% voting interest after the transaction.

The move is expected to buoy the country’s healthcare sector as Alibaba is set to accelerate the adoption of data and cloud computing in the country’s state-dominated medical industry.

“Healthcare is a strategically important area for Alibaba Group with strong growth potential,” CEO Daniel Zhang said in the statement. “This transaction is a logical evolution for the continued development of Alibaba Health into our healthcare flagship platform.”

Here’s more from Bloomberg.