[THE INVESTOR] Sungjee Construction, South Korea’s midsized builder, has decided to merge with its subsidiary IB Pharm in a bid to diversify its business portfolio to the pharmaceutical sector, the company said on Oct. 26.

IB Pharm is a wholesale distributor of pharma and medical products, which is entirely owned by Sungjee Construction.

The builder said the merger would help the company to increase business efficiency as it could reduce consumption of resources and manpower than keeping IB Pharm as subsidiary.

“We expect that it will have a positive impact on the firm’s finance and sales by creating synergies between construction and pharma business,” the firm said in a regulatory filing.

Shares of Sungjee Construction gained 9.61 percent on the merger news to trade at 2,225 won (US$1.97) in the morning session.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)