Today, cord blood banks exist in every developed country, as well as within most developing nations. With approximately 450 companies marketing cord blood banking services worldwide, maturation of the market means that each company is fighting harder for market share. While the U.S. cord blood banking industry is the most mature cord blood banking market in the world, Asia is extremely close behind and growing more quickly than the U.S. market.

In 2016, Sanpower Group and its subsidiary Nanjing Cenbest announced the acquisition of China Cord Blood Corporation (NYSE:CO) and Shandong Cord Blood Bank, positioning it to hold four licenses out of the only seven issued provincial-level cord blood bank licenses in China. According to the company, Sanpower Group has “reserved 800,000 cord blood samples at home, and the associated reserves nearly amount to 1,100,000 when counting in the Cordlife reserves across various Southeast Asian countries and regions.”[1]

This positions Sanpower Group and its subsidiary Nanjing Cenbest as the world’s largest cord blood banking operator not only in China and Southeast Asia, but in the world.

Currently, the largest cord blood bank in the United States, Cord Blood Registry, reports to have nearly 700,000 cord blood and tissue units in storage, positioning it substantially behind Sanpower Group. Within China, Sanpower Group reports to control approximately 800,000 cord blood samples. Therefore, Sanpower Group leads CBR by 100,000 units, or 14.2% (800,000 / 700,000 = 1.142), respectively. With CBR controlling more than 50% of the market share in the U.S. and Sanpower Group controlling more than 50% of the market share in China, these two entities are the largest cord blood operators in the world. [Read more…]