A Eu Yan Sang store. (File photo: Facebook/Eu Yan Sang)

From a small shop in Perak, the company has grown in 144 years to more than 170 stores across Asia. Here is a look back at its journey through the years.

FIRST SHOP IN PERAK

In 1873, Eu Yan Sang's founder Eu Kong left his hometown of Foshan in Guangdong, China and travelled to Malaya to pursue new opportunities.

Using Chinese medicine and herbs to relieve tin mine workers from opium addiction, Eu Kong established his first shop in Gopeng, Perak in 1879.

The store was named Yan Sang, which means "caring for mankind" in Cantonese.

Eu Kong's only son, Eu Tong Sen, grew up around the family trade and took over his father's business in 1898 when he turned 21.

EXPANSION

Eu Tong Sen established himself in Malaya and Singapore and became a prominent figure in tin mining and rubber plantation businesses by the 1920s. 

Wherever he started a tin mine, he would also set up a medical shop.

"As he expanded the medical shop beyond Gopeng, he decided to brand the medical business more firmly with the attachment of the family name, and his medical shops were named Eu Yan Sang since then," the company wrote on its website.

His family also grew. According to the National Library Board's (NLB) Infopedia, Eu Tong Sen had a wife, four daughters and a son by the age of 38. 

"Worried for the family lineage, his mother introduced more women into his life and in the following year, he had two more sons by two different wives. In total, Eu (Tong Sen) had 13 sons and 11 daughters by 11 wives."

Following Eu Tong Sen's death in 1941, his fortune was divided among his 13 sons. The business became too complex to govern after his death, and most of his assets were sold off by the 1980s, reported the South China Morning Post in 2017. 

But in 1989, his grandson Richard Eu joined the company as a general manager. Born in Hong Kong, Richard Eu moved to Singapore when he was about two years old.

As general manager, he looked to revive the business. At the start of his tenure, many family members sold their shares to construction and property group Lum Chang Holdings. By February 1990, Lum Chang had become the majority shareholder.

Three years later, Richard Eu and three of his cousins staged a buyout of the pharmaceutical arm of the company at a sum of S$21 million, and formed Eu Yan Sang International Holdings.

By 1996, Eu Yan Sang International Holdings had acquired Eu Yan Sang Hong Kong, resulting in the consolidation of its operations in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

The company grew under Richard Eu, and it started offering more easy-to-use products such as Chinese medicine in capsule form, bottled birds' nest and herbal soup mixes.

In 2000, Eu Yan Sang International was publicly listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). The following year, it launched TCM clinics in Malaysia and Singapore.

DELISTING

In August 2016, the company reported a full-year net loss of S$13.5 million. In China, the group closed its food and beverage business and six retail outlets. 

Its losses were affected by "impairments" on property, plant and equipment, as well as goodwill and intangible assets in Hong Kong, China and Australia as part of its business restructuring programme, it said in a bourse filing.

About two months later, the company delisted from SGX. A consortium led by a UOB-backed fund, a Temasek Holdings unit and Richard Eu made a privatisation bid for the company, it was reported. 

The deal valued Eu Yan Sang at about US$196 million at the time.

BUYING EU YAN SANG

Currently, Eu Yan Sang is owned by Righteous Crane Holding – a fund managed by Tower Capital Asia, a unit of Temasek Holdings, and founding family members of Eu Yan Sang.

The company has more than 170 retail stores in China, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia and Singapore, with 30 TCM clinics in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. It also has an F&B outlet in Malaysia.

On Thursday (Apr 4), Japan's Mitsui & Co said it had teamed up with Rohto Pharmaceutical Co to buy Eu Yan Sang.

Mitsui said in a statement that a special purpose company jointly owned by Mitsui and Rohto would acquire around 86 per cent of Eu Yan Sang from Righteous Crane Holding.

Mitsui, a conglomerate established in 1947, has 125 offices in 61 countries and regions, with businesses in energy, chemicals, and mineral and metal resources, among others.

Rohto is a manufacturer and marketer of pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and functional foods.

Following the deal, a takeover bid for the remaining 14 per cent of Eu Yan Sang will be made, while the founding family of Eu Yan Sang will reinvest partially into the Mitsui-Rohto special purpose company, Mitsui added.

The transaction is expected to close by June, according to Tower Capital Asia's statement.