Osstem to buy Brazil’s No. 3 dental implant maker Implacil

South Korea’s Osstem Implant Co., the world’s fourth-largest dental implant maker, is slated to acquire Brazilian peer Implacil De Bortoli to accelerate its expansion into Latin America, one of the world's fastest-growing dental services markets.

Osstem signed an agreement to buy a 100% stake in Implacil for $89.8 million on April 13 and aims to complete the transaction by June, according to banking sources on Thursday. The Korean company’s US affiliate Hiossen Implant will fund the acquisition, sources added.

The Korean company plans to apply its implant technologies to the Brazilian firm's products and spur sales across Latin America, according to sources.

Established in 1982, Implacil is the third-largest dental implant manufacturer in Brazil with around 14% market share as of 2022. The company provides implants and components across Brazil and to neighbors such as Colombia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Bolivia and also to Portugal and Italy.

The Brazilian implant maker posted 11 billion won ($8.1 million) in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and 36 billion won in revenue in the 12 months leading to September 30, 2023. The company logged 60.4% and 50.8% annual growth rates for EBITDA and revenue between 2020 and 2023.

The Latin American dental implant market is forecast to take off over the next several years. According to healthcare data firm iData Research, the Latin American market of dental implants and final abutments was valued at over $387 million in 2022 and is forecast to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 12.6% to $892 million by 2029.

The consortium of private equity firms MBK Partners and Unison Capital Korea (UCK), which owns a 96.1% stake in Osstem, aims to diversify the implant maker’s target regions beyond China.

Some 25% of Osstem’s revenue comes from China, but the county’s volume-based procurement policy in the medical industry is expected to hurt Osstem’s profits, UCK Chief Executive Kim Soo-min told The Korea Economic Daily in February 2023. 

The implant maker seeks to decrease its reliance on China and ramp up sales in other markets including the US and Europe.

Write to Jong-Kwan Park at pjk@hankyung.com


Jihyun Kim edited this article.