< The 2015 All-Asia Research Team
Total appearances: 6
Team debut: 2009Richard Yeh guides his three-strong Citi crew in Hong Kong to second place for a third consecutive year. The analysts monitor 22 names, with plans to expand coverage to account for growing investor interest in A-share companies. Growth for the region’s health care and pharmaceuticals stocks could be 11 to 12 percent this year, they believe, which is still resilient “but slightly slow versus 2014,” says Yeh. Headwinds include potential price erosion as drug manufacturers haggle on their bids to be adopted by public health plans. However, even bigger transformations are on the horizon, they contend. “We think the sector is at the early stages of structural changes,” the team leader says. Forces driving the change include the Chinese government’s push to reform state-owned enterprises, to extract corruption and accelerate their growth. Among the companies that the analysts believe could benefit from SOE restructuring is Chinese pharmaceuticals maker and wholesaler Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings Co. Management has developed an equity-raising plan and a stock-incentive scheme, notes Yeh, which make the company attractive from a long-term perspective. Drug supply chain services provider Sinopharm Holding Co. could also see a boost, they contend, because it is well positioned to benefit from the emerging trend of mobile health and e-health functionalities, the expansion of which is being spurred as China strives to update its medical markets. “Richard’s team has a broad database and maintains close eyes on the development of the industry and its companies,” one admirer declares.
