[비즈한국] The Samsung Group’s first-ever holding company is set to be born. Although it is a holding company limited to the bio sector, the move is interpreted as an intention to further bolster the bio business, which consistently records an operating profit margin of around 30% relative to revenue. Following the completion of the 5th plant this April, which ushered in the era of the Second Bio Campus, attention is focused on the future moves of Samsung Biologics207940 as it strengthens its CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) business and Samsung Epis Holdings, which aims to go beyond biosimilars into new drug development.
According to industry sources on the 16th, Samsung Biologics is scheduled to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on the 17th to process the agenda for the spin-off. The plan involves retaining the current Samsung Biologics as the surviving entity, focusing solely on the pure CDMO business, and establishing a new holding company, Samsung Epis Holdings, to lead Samsung Bioepis (a biosimilar company) and a new subsidiary dedicated to new drug and platform development.
The company believes this move will increase management transparency by resolving concerns over conflicts of interest raised by some CDMO clients regarding Samsung Biologics having the biosimilar developer Samsung Bioepis as a subsidiary. The newly established Samsung Epis Holdings plans to use the antibody-based biosimilar technology accumulated through Samsung Bioepis as a cash cow to expand into new modalities, such as ADC (Antibody-Drug Conjugate) therapies, AAV (Adeno-Associated Virus)-based gene therapies, and peptide therapeutics, thereby creating new growth engines.
Samsung Biologics is working hard to attract clients by successively introducing new CDMO platforms. The company highlighted its CMO (Contract Manufacturing Organization) brand 'Excellence,' which was first unveiled at 'BioJapan 2025' in Yokohama earlier this month, at 'BIX (BioPlus-Interphex) Korea 2025,' held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, on the 15th.
Excellence centers on standardizing the production plant environment for Samsung Biologics. The company explained that by creating identical plant environments through the Excellence brand, it can shorten the construction period for new plants while ensuring uniformity in drug production quality and faster production speeds. Additionally, even when maintenance periods arrive for a plant, production can be handled by other plants, thereby reducing production delays. A Samsung Biologics official stated, "In the case of our existing plants 1 through 4, the different environments made it difficult to reassign personnel," adding, "The Excellence platform will be applied to all plants completed after the 5th plant, which was finished in April. Even if personnel from the 5th plant are reassigned to plants 6 through 8, there will be no issues with environmental adaptation, allowing for the efficient management of human resources."
Samsung Epis Holdings plans to build modality platforms for ADC, AAV, and peptides through its new subsidiaries. The strategy is to either out-license new drug candidates discovered on these platforms or pursue joint development with global pharmaceutical companies. Having invested in nine domestic and international technology companies since 2022 through the Samsung Life Science Fund—a venture investment fund jointly established by Samsung C&T028260, Samsung Biologics, and Samsung Bioepis—it is expected that the company will look to internalize these technologies through cooperation with these firms. Samsung Bioepis also signed a joint research agreement with the domestic ADC company IntoCell in December 2023 to verify drug candidates.
Now that Samsung Bioepis has become management-independent from Samsung Biologics, it has unveiled a blueprint to leap into a global biopharmaceutical company by focusing on product development through faster decision-making. It has set a goal to secure more than 20 biosimilar products by adding at least 9 more to the 11 already on the market. Kim Kyung-ah, CEO and President of Samsung Bioepis, visited and inspected the Samsung Bioepis booth at BIX Korea 2025 on the 15th before touring the exhibition hall. CEO Kim is also expected to lead the newly established Samsung Epis Holdings.
The securities industry also has high expectations for this spin-off. Kwon Hae-soon, a director at Eugene Investment & Securities, said at the 'Munjeong Bio CEO Forum' held in Songpa-gu, Seoul, last month, "Samsung Biologics is 22nd in market capitalization among global pharmaceutical and bio companies, but it has been gradually falling behind since last year." She added, "Investors are very curious about how the Samsung Group's strategy regarding the pharmaceutical, bio, and broader healthcare industry will become visible after the spin-off and re-listing."
Yeo No-rae, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, predicted, "There will be high volatility immediately after the split." She added, "As the P/E ratio (Price-to-Earnings ratio) of Samsung Biologics becomes similar to that of the global CDMO company Lonza, it will enter an attractive valuation range considering additional orders and the operation of the 5th plant." Mirae Asset Securities researchers Kim Seung-min and Jo Se-eun viewed it positively, stating, "After the spin-off of Samsung Epis Holdings, the corporate value will consist of the value of the biosimilars and the value of the new subsidiary’s new business. We believe the combined value of the two companies after the split will be greater than the corporate value of Samsung Biologics before the split."