Jiamei Dental Medical Management Group (Jiamei), owner of 60 chain clinics around the country, recently received US$10 million investment from two overseas venture capital investors: America-based Susquehanna International Group and Britain-headquartered Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd.

The injection of foreign capital makes Jiamei the first joint-venture among private medical groups in China, though the overseas investors declined to reveal their shares in Jiamei, the 21th Century Business Herald reported on August 7.

The investment enables Jiamei to open 40 more clinics around the country by the end of this year, according to Liu Jia, the group's CEO. The dental group plans to own 300 clinics nationwide by the end of next year, and the expansion requires Jiamei to collect another US$40 million investment before the end of this year.

The Beijing-headquartered dental medical group plans to expand its business to the Yangtze River Delta, Zhujiang River Delta, and economic zones around Bohai Bay, partially through the purchase of other medical clinics. To date, the private dental business has accounted for 15 percent of the domestic market, while state-owned medical institutions hold the remaining 75 percent.

With investments totaling US$4.5 billion on the Chinese mainland, Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd has become one of the biggest overseas institutional investors in China's A-share stock market.

(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, August 7, 2007)