Adicon Holdings, an independent third-party clinical laboratory company in China, and The Carlyle Group announced the final closing of a US$88 million funding round of preferred shares for Adicon. This oversubscribed funding round, which had its first close in December 2020, was led by Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional and joined by Lake Bleu Capital, Cenova Capital, OrbiMed, Mirae Asset, among others. Carlyle will remain the single largest shareholder in Adicon following this round. 

Adicon operates 24 fully-owned laboratories in China, offering diagnostic testing outsourcing services to more than 10,000 active customers, including hospitals, clinics and contract research organizations in 28 provinces.

Carlyle invested in Adicon and became its single largest shareholder in 2018 with equity coming from Carlyle’s fifth Asia buyout fund, Carlyle Asia Partners V.  With Carlyle’s support, Adicon has institutionalized its business and strengthened its management team, invested significantly in laboratory infrastructure and diagnostic testing equipment, further expanded its network of laboratories in China, and established stronger collaboration with hospitals and healthcare providers to further grow the company’s customer base.

China’s diagnosis testing market is expected to experience significant growth in the coming years driven by an aging population and an increasing awareness of proper flu and disease diagnosis in the wake of Covid-19. At the same time, third-party laboratory testing penetration remains low in China compared with developed countries. Proceeds from this funding round will be used to invest in new opportunities in advanced and esoteric testing and to fund the company’s further expansion.