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implants - international magazine of oral implantology

I interview _According to analysts, South Korean manufac- turersareexpectedtodominatethemarketfordental implantsinAsiaintheyearstocome.Isthisprojected development the main reason for your investment in MegaGen? South Korea is one of the largest markets for im- plants in terms of volume. More than two million im- plants are placed every year and local manufacturers are looking to expand into other Asian markets with high potential. China is a good example, where the market is still comparatively small but under-pene- trated and growing quickly. In these markets, the premium implant segment, where Straumann has been and still is very active, is growinglessdynamicallythanthemedium-andlow- price segments are. We see the same trend in other markets,likeBrazil,wherecompanieslikeNeodentsell highervolumesthanpremiumprovidersdo.Twoyears ago, we had to ask ourselves whether we could ad- dress the non-premium segment with our existing brand or whether we needed a second brand. We de- cided on the latter and purchased a 49 per cent stake in Neodent. As an established brand in the region, MegaGen gives us a foothold in the Asian “value” (medium-price) segment. The convertible bond ap- proach means that we have the option to gain a ma- jority stake in 2016 with a managed low risk. Straumann has always provided premium dental implantsbackedbysolidscientificevidenceandserv- “The trend towards the medium-price range has accelerated” Source_DT Asia Pacific Following previous investments in Brazil, Germany andSpain,Straumannrecentlyannouncedthatithas bought convertible bonds worth US$30 million from MegaGen, one of the largest dental implant solution providersinSouthKorea.AttherecentWorldSympo- sium of the International Team for Implantology in GenevainSwitzerland,onbehalfofDentalTribuneAsia Pacific, implants magazine Managing Editor Georg Isbaner had the opportunity to talk to Frank Hemm, a member of Straumann’s executive management board,about the investment and how it will affect his company’spositionintheAsiaPacificregion. Implantsmagazine EditorialManagerGeorgIsbaner(left)spokewithFrankHemm aboutStraumann'spositionintheAsiaPacificregion. (Photo: Henrik Schröder, OEMUS MEDIA AG) 40 I implants2_2014

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