Chinese cancer drugs developer BeiGene first to seek secondary flotation in Hong Kong after listing reform
US and Beijing-based company could raise between US$908 million and US$1.07 billion
Chinese cancer treatment research and development company BeiGene is set to become the first overseas listed biotechnology firm to seek a secondary listing in Hong Kong, under the city’s revised listing rules, potentially raising up to US$1 billion from a shares offer.
It will sell 65 million new ordinary shares, to be listed on Hong Kong’s main board, according to a filling with the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. The company listed on the Nasdaq in 2016.
It expects to grant the deal’s arrangers a 30-day option to buy an additional 9.84 million shares to be offered to investors. It will sell the shares at HK$94.4 to HK$111.6 each, a source close to the deal told the South China Morning Post, allowing the company to potentially raise between US$908 million and US$1.07 billion if the option is fully exercised. Its shares traded 2.25 per cent lower at US$169.23 per American depository share at 10.18am in New York on Friday. Each ADS represents the right to receive 13 ordinary shares.
A listing rules revamp in April saw Hong Kong allow biotechnology companies without profit or even revenue to list for the first time. Eight companies have since applied to list under the revised rules.
Set up in 2010, the Beijing and US-based company focuses on “immuno-oncology” research, or treatments that use the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.
It has more than 1,300 staff members, including about 500 involved in research and development in China, the US, Australia and Switzerland, and more than 200 marketing staff, according to its preliminary listing prospectus, which was filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday.
