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SCMP Reporter

Li Li and Li Tan, the couple who founded the most expensive company on the mainland, have proved elusive after a successful initial public offering by Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical last week. 
They had wanted to avoid the media glare and to maintain a low-key profile, a company official said. 
The couple had turned down many media requests for interviews and had not arrived at their Shenzhen offices recently because, the official said, they were 'busy dealing with the IPO issue'.
Hepalink produces heparin used as an anticoagulant in medicine.
The Lis are set to join the ranks of the mainland's richest people after Hepalink raised 5.93 billion yuan (HK$6.75 billion) in a share offering on the SME board at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
This boosted their combined net worth to 42.62 billion yuan, enough to surpass BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu,  rated by Forbes magazine as the mainland's richest person, with US$5.8 billion.
Hepalink sold 40.1 million shares, or 10 per cent of its enlarged capital, at 148 yuan each, the most expensive IPO stock on the mainland. The price translated into 73 times its 2009 earnings.
Little was known about the Lis before the IPO, but the Hepalink official confirmed that a report by 21st Century Business Herald was basically accurate. According to the newspaper, the couple were both born in 1964 and met when studying at Sichuan University, where they specialised in chemistry.
Li Li graduated from the university in 1987 and worked for a state-owned meat processing firm in Chengdu, Sichuan province, until he resigned in 1992, becoming chief executive of a biotechnology firm. In 1998, the Lis set up Hepalink, focusing on  heparin.
Ge Zheng, a pharmaceutical analyst with GF Securities, said the Lis  were respected by executives and engineers at other firms in the medical industry. 'Yet, they are very low-key,' she said. Ge felt the IPO had been overpriced.
In its prospectus, Hepalink says it is the only mainland pharmaceutical firm endorsed by the US Food and Drug Administration to export  heparin. However, Ge said several other mainland companies had been accredited by the FDA although not one had  so far sent its products to the United States. 
The International Capital Corp predicted in a research report that Hepalink could face problems as it expanded. The company planned to use its IPO proceeds to double capacity by setting up new facilities that would be operational in two years' time.
Hepalink employs about 500 people. It posted a net profit of 809 million yuan, or 2.25 yuan a share, in 2009. TX Investment Consulting predicts it will report an 80 per cent increase in profits in 2010. However, a reasonable price range for Hepalink should be between 109.50 yuan and 127.80 yuan, it said.
Some investors believe the price will plunge after trading starts. The company's listing date has yet to be set.
A comment by China Asset Management fund manager Wang Yawei, who called Hepalink 'the best pharmaceutical company that I've ever seen', had partly resulted in the high IPO price.
The Lis together own 288 million shares of Hepalink. Li Li is chairman, while Li Tan is a director and vice-president.  
In the past, there have been a string of scandals involving some of the mainland's richest people. This had raised fears among a number of tycoons that widespread media coverage  might not be a good idea as it could draw attention to them of law-enforcement authorities.
Late last month, Wong Kwong-yu, once the mainland's wealthiest person, went on trial, 17 months after being detained by Beijing police. He was charged with illegal foreign exchange trading, insider trading and offering bribes to government officials.
Big boost
The Lis are set to join the ranks of the mainland's richest people after the share offer, with a net worth of, in yuan: 42.6b yuan



China rich list stars avoid the spotlight