China's Mindray to buy diagnostic test material supplier HyTest for $661 mln

China's Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics (300760.SZ) has agreed to acquire HyTest, a supplier of raw materials used in tests for diseases such as COVID-19, to gain independence in making and developing core materials for testing reagents.

Mindray's purchase of Finland-based HyTest Invest Oy and its subsidiaries for an estimated 545 million euros ($661 million), agreed to in a signing on May 15, would give it the resources of a major developer and manufacturer of antibodies and antigens for diagnostic products, the company said in a filing on Sunday.

Mindray's share rose as much as 8.8% on Monday.

"Self-research and self-production of raw materials for testing reagents is an important guarantee of the reagents' quality," Mindray said in an call with investors on Sunday.

"Mindray's current capacity falls behind the mainstream level of the industry. Through the acquisition, Mindray will ... increase the proportion of core materials made in-house," it said, according to a recording of the call published on Monday.

HyTest has already become core material supplier to Mindray and maintained more than a decade of partnership with the Chinese firm, Mindray said.