A Chinese consortium will pay $600m for an Australian condom manufacturer in a bet on growing demand for the contraceptives in China, where consumers are becoming more concerned about sexual health and upgrading to higher-end brands.

Humanwell Healthcare, a Shanghai-listed pharmaceuticals company, and state-owned Citic Capital China Partners will buy the century-old condoms and sexual health business of Ansell, whose Jissbon brand sheaths are already a mainstay in Chinese convenience stores. 

China’s condom market will almost triple in value to $5bn by 2024 from 2015, Transparency Market Research said in a report last year, as more liberal attitudes to sex among young people and awareness of sexually transmitted diseases through government campaigns outweigh the impact from the end of China’s one-child policy.