The continuous acquisitions are part of the Tencent-backed healthcare firm's strategic plan to build China's most highest-end healthcare ecosystem. The company already has over 50 clinics in its portfolio.
Tencent-backed clinic chain Tencent Trusted Doctors (企鹅杏仁) announced the acquisition of 25 clinics from well-known Shenzhen-based dental clinical chain Zhengfu Dental (正夫口腔).
Tencent Trusted Doctors is the result of a merger in 2018 of two Chinese online healthcare service providers, the Tencent medical unit Tencent Doctorwork and Shanghai-based startup Trusted Doctors.
The company's last financing event, worth USD 250 million, took place on April 24, 2019, led by Guangdong-based real estate developer Country Garden Holdings (碧桂园), Tencent Holdings (700:SH), and Venture Capital firm Sequoia Capital China (红杉资本).
The target firm Zhengfu Dental, founded in 2014, offers a variety of offline dental clinical services such as dental implants, orthodontics, aesthetic restoration (teeth restoring method) and children's oral health. It claims that its doctors come from various backgrounds, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and has served nearly 200,000 people in 2019.
After the acquisition, the new owner of Shenzhen clinic firm emphasized (link in Chinese) its plans to expand the business and reach 50 clinics by 2021.
It's not the first time Tencent Trusted Doctors has made such a move. Last year, the online medical care network acquired two clinics, the Beijing-based clinic service provider U-link (佑邻诊所) and Shenzhen-based medical software firm Ruoshui Healthcare (若水医疗). Therefore, the company is engaged in creating a new healthcare ecosystem in China by purchasing local clinics and integrating them into its online system and then serving the offline market – hence, building an extensive network of "online-to-offline clinic facility systems."
According to the company, Tencent Trusted Doctors have a thriving network clinics across China, including 10 Day Surgery Centers, five Specialist Centers 29 Clinics, and 10 Corporate Clinic connecting more than 32,000 hospitals. Moreover, it expects to expand its business and cover all the primary first- and second-tier cities in two to three years.