HLB Life Sciences Acquires Specialty Materials Company 'Tinico'

HLB Life Science is strengthening its medical device business by acquiring 'Tinico,' a specialized manufacturer of superelastic Nitinol materials.

HLB Life Science announced on the 10th that it will acquire 100% of the shares of Tinico held by CEO Kang Ji-hoon for 17 billion KRW. The payment will be made with 5 billion KRW in cash and convertible bonds (CB).

Nitinol is a material composed of nickel and titanium, known for its excellent shape recovery at certain temperatures, making it a representative shape memory alloy. In addition to shape memory effect and superelasticity, it has excellent biocompatibility, making it widely used as a medical device material. Furthermore, its applications extend from general industries such as automotive and aerospace to advanced fields like space technology.

The global market size of the Nitinol medical device sector, which accounts for the largest share, is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 7.1%, from $18.7 billion (approximately 27.26 trillion KRW) in 2023 to $35.4 billion (approximately 51.62 trillion KRW) in 2032.

Tinico, acquired by HLB Life Science, is the first company in Korea to successfully commercialize Nitinol materials. By securing manufacturing technologies for superelastic Nitinol materials such as Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM), it has localized large volumes of strategic core materials that were previously dependent on imports.

VIM is a melting technology used to melt metal alloys and is essential for producing high-purity Nitinol. Its strengths include 'reproducibility,' which enables production of Nitinol with consistent quality, and 'scalability,' which allows manufacturing of Nitinol products in various sizes and applications. Additionally, VIM technology requires high facility and operational costs as well as precise control technology, acting as a barrier to entry for latecomers.

Tinico has established a supply chain for each process stage, from Nitinol raw materials (ingots, billets) to intermediate products (wire rods, fine wires, tubes) and finished products (stents, catheters), securing sales diversity based on price competitiveness and differentiated quality maintenance technology.

In particular, it has secured technological competitiveness by developing manufacturing technology for Nitinol ultra-fine wires with a diameter of 0.025mm, which is as thin as a human hair.

Nam Sang-woo, Senior Vice Chairman of HLB Group and CEO of HLB Life Science, said, "Tinico is a company that led the localization of Nitinol materials and is leading the market with its unique quality maintenance technology know-how. Through the acquisition of Tinico, which is generating stable profits, we will continuously increase the corporate value of HLB Life Science by expanding the medical device business."