BEIJING, Nov. 21, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- iKang Healthcare Group, Inc. ("iKang" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:KANG), the largest provider in China's fast growing private preventive healthcare services market in terms of revenue in 2013, today announced Mr. Lee Ligang Zhang, the Company's Founder, Chairman and CEO, has been named the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2014 National Life Sciences Award winner.
Introduced in the United States in 1986, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year awards program is one of the world's most prestigious business accolades for entrepreneurs, and their globally recognized awards honor the most outstanding entrepreneurs who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. Past winners have included business luminaries such as Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Pierre Omidyar of eBay. Mr. Zhang was named alongside 13 other outstanding industrial entrepreneurs from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau at the 2014 China awards program.
The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges. The 2014 judging panel was headed by Mr. Paul Chow, former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. Among the panel members were Ms. Wei Sun Christianson, Co-CEO of Asia Pacific and CEO of China of Morgan Stanley, Mr. Ren Yuanlin, Chairman of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group Limited, Mr. Neil Shen, Founding Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital China, Mr. Charles Wang, Deputy CEO of ICBC International, Mr. Roger Wang, Chairman of Golden Eagle International Group and Mr. Ricky Wong, Chairman of Hong Kong Television Network Limited.
Mr. Zhang has been a successful serial entrepreneur in media, internet and healthcare. After three years in his graduate program in genetics at Harvard Medical School's Division of Medical Sciences, Mr. Zhang quit and returned to China to get into the internet. While at Harvard, Mr. Zhang co-founded the Harvard China Forum, which has evolved into one of the most influential business forums on China in the US. In 1999, Mr. Zhang co-founded eLong.com and built it into one of the largest online travel service companies in China. In 2004, Mr. Zhang founded iKang as iKang.com with a vision to build an internet platform between consumers and healthcare service providers in China. Today, iKang has evolved into China's largest provider in the private preventive healthcare services market in terms of revenue and served around 2.7 million individuals in 2013.
Mr. Zhang commented on his award. "I believe the essence of the entrepreneurial spirit lies in tenacity. That is, the tenacity to relentlessly pursue customer needs and the tenacity to shake up the status quo and create innovations to meet those needs. Being the pioneer in adopting online services for the brick-and-mortar healthcare industry, this honor is a reflection of iKang's leading position in China's healthcare market. Looking forward, I'm confident that both our core medical examination services and new value-added services such as dental will continue to gain traction in this growing mobile internet era. In the meantime, we are devoted to developing a platform to take the latest discoveries in research and merge them with mobile technologies, bring personalized care into people's lives."
About iKang Healthcare Group Inc.
iKang Healthcare Group, Inc. is the largest provider in China's fast growing private preventive healthcare services market, accounting for approximately 12.3% of market share in terms of revenue in 2013.
Through iKang's integrated service platform and established nationwide network of medical centers and third-party service provider facilities, the Company provides comprehensive and high quality preventive healthcare solutions, including a wide range of medical examinations services and value-added services including disease screening and other services. iKang's customers are primarily corporate customers who contract the Company to provide medical examination services to their employees and clients, and pay for these services at pre-negotiated prices. iKang also directly markets its services to individual customers. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014, the Company delivered its services to approximately 2.7 million individuals across China.
As of June 30, 2014, iKang's nationwide network consisted of 50 self-owned medical centers covering 15 of the most affluent cities in China, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Changchun, Jiangyin and Changzhou, as well as Hong Kong. The Company has also supplemented its self-owned medical center network by contracting with approximately 300 third-party service provider facilities, which include selected independent medical examination centers and hospitals across all of China's provinces, creating a nationwide network that allows iKang to serve its customers in markets where it does not have self-owned medical centers.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements, including management quotes and business outlook, are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "estimate," "project," "predict," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "potential," "plan," "goal" and similar statements. iKang may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about: the Company's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to retain and grow its customer base and network of medical centers; the growth of, and trends in, the markets for its services in China; the demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; competition in its industry in China; relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions in China. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in iKang's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. iKang undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.