CITIC Securities reported that WUXI BIO announced an agreement between its Irish vaccine facility and Merck, whereby Merck will acquire WUXI BIO's vaccine facility in Ireland for a total transaction amount of approximately 0.5 billion USD. The company anticipates that this transaction will meet the customary closing conditions in the first half of the year. CITIC believes that through this deal, WUXI BIO can further enhance asset efficiency and profit margins, focusing its Suzhou base to provide vaccine CDMO services to more clients, while also improving the company's liquidity to support capacity expansion and Share Buyback. It is also believed that this transaction demonstrates the company's ability to build and operate world-leading complex vaccine production facilities according to the international standards of global vaccine giants. The firm maintains its profit forecast for WUXI BIO for 2024 and 2025 unchanged, and for the first time introduces a profit forecast for 2026 of 4.693 billion yuan. The firm maintains an "Outperform Industry" rating, considering the systematic upgrade of the Pharmaceutical Sector, and raises its Target Price by 15% to HKD 19.09.