An announcement on the evening of January 5th revealed that leading brand e-commerce operator UNQ HOLDINGS (02177) is accelerating the construction of its second growth curve. According to the disclosed announcement, the company has formally completed the acquisition of a 90% equity stake in One Two Co., Ltd. from two independent third parties for 2.701 billion Japanese Yen (approximately 135 million HKD). It is reported that One Two Co., Ltd. primarily operates the Japanese consultation-style pharmacy chain "Akahige Pharmacy"; post-acquisition, Akahige Pharmacy will retain its brand name and core team to ensure the continuity of its service philosophy and professional standards. Furthermore, as an indirect non-wholly-owned subsidiary, its financial performance will be consolidated into the Group's financial statements. This acquisition of a specialized Japanese pharmacy by UNQ HOLDINGS carries significant strategic implications. The company has maintained long-term, deep collaborations with several century-old Japanese pharmaceutical companies. Through this external merger and acquisition, UNQ HOLDINGS substantially strengthens its influence in the high-potential professional health consumption sector. More crucially, the move grants UNQ HOLDINGS access to a scarce, locally established overseas brand. Leveraging Akahige Pharmacy's mature retail network and specialized vertical capabilities, UNQ HOLDINGS is poised to accelerate its transition from online distribution to an integrated "online + offline" brand retail ecosystem.

Delving into the strategic logic behind this acquisition reveals an elevation of its ecosystem capabilities. As a established player with over 33 years of history in the Japanese market, the acquired Akahige Pharmacy operates nearly 10 stores across Hokkaido, Honshu, and Kyushu, enjoying high brand recognition nationally. Unlike common comprehensive pharmacies in China, Akahige Pharmacy focuses specifically on sexual health and wellness, with core operations centered on health management for middle-aged and elderly men. It provides personalized medication and health solutions through a "one-on-one pharmacist consultation" model, serving over a million customers annually. Beyond selling over-the-counter medicines, Akahige Pharmacy has also developed several proprietary brand sexual wellness supplements, including "壮阳皇" and "强力飞弹". Considering UNQ HOLDINGS' long-term commitment to the Japanese market, this strategic acquisition of Akahige Pharmacy appears as a natural progression. UNQ HOLDINGS' portfolio includes partnerships with numerous century-old Japanese pharmaceutical firms like Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, Taisho Pharmaceutical, Daiichi Sankyo, and Ohta's Isan. Viewed collectively, this latest acquisition can be seen as a strategic extension and natural choice following years of accumulated capability. Through years of serving leading Japanese pharmaceutical companies, UNQ HOLDINGS has gained deep insights into consumer characteristics and operational logic within the health sector, while building a professional operational system and compliance management framework for pharmaceutical health products.

Following the acquisition of Akahige Pharmacy, UNQ HOLDINGS can deeply integrate its long-accumulated digital and cross-border capabilities with the target company's proven methodologies in specialized pharmaceutical services, product development, and privacy protection processes within its vertical domain. UNQ HOLDINGS indicated that the next phase will involve collaborative efforts across three key areas: "service model innovation, regional market expansion, and technology-enabled upgrades." The aim is to pioneer a closed-loop ecosystem in Asia that combines "professional pharmaceutical services + intelligent health management," covering both online and offline channels and spanning multiple markets. Particularly given the rapidly aging populations across many Asian countries, it is anticipated that under UNQ HOLDINGS' management, Akahige Pharmacy's sexual health supplements for the middle-aged and elderly demographic will accelerate their expansion from Japan into various Asian markets. This will meet the urgent and continuously growing consumer demand in this sector with high-quality products. In summary, this powerful alliance will not only infuse UNQ HOLDINGS' systematic capabilities into the established Japanese pharmacy but also accelerate the development of a robust second growth curve beyond its traditional core business. Such strategic evolution likely aligns well with the expectations of secondary market investors.

The emergence of this second growth curve suggests a potential re-rating of the company's value. Reviewing UNQ HOLDINGS' actions over the past two years reveals a full-throttle approach to building this new growth engine. Prior to the Akahige Pharmacy acquisition, UNQ HOLDINGS launched the Canadian anti-aging health brand Vanpearl, which contains ergothioneine, in the latter half of last year. Subsequently, the company made significant investments to recruit international expert Professor Barry Halliwell, renowned as the father of ergothioneine research for his discovery of this star anti-aging ingredient, thereby enhancing its talent and technological reserves. Although the launch of the proprietary brand Vanpearl and the acquisition of Akahige Pharmacy were separated by over a year, viewing these two strategic moves together clearly outlines the core path UNQ HOLDINGS is taking to build its second growth curve. The acquisition of Vanpearl allowed UNQ HOLDINGS to enter the anti-aging nutraceuticals赛道 with a proprietary brand, establishing an upstream R&D and brand stronghold. The controlling stake in Akahige Pharmacy, conversely, provides immediate access to a specialized service network and a high-loyalty customer base within a mature market's vertical segment in Japan.

Based on this series of strategic explorations, UNQ HOLDINGS is transforming into a health consumption ecosystem builder that simultaneously masters R&D capabilities, brand and service management, and omni-channel development and operation. The company's second growth curve is accelerating its transition from blueprint to reality. Following this pattern, it is plausible to anticipate that UNQ HOLDINGS may initiate a systematic round of acquisitions and integrations within the health consumption sector. This would further accelerate the completion of its end-to-end capability map, spanning from R&D and branding to diverse channels. Concurrently, the core experience accumulated from directly managing Vanpearl and integrating Akahige Pharmacy—covering product positioning, compliant operations, and deep user service—will undoubtedly become invaluable "methodological assets" for incubating more proprietary brands in the future. UNQ HOLDINGS, with its thoroughly reshaped growth prospects, undoubtedly aligns with current market investors' preferences. In an economic backdrop characterized by a "shift to lower-gear growth," the company has cultivated a highly promising new growth engine beyond its core business, indicating substantial long-term momentum and a qualitative transformation in its long-term investment value.