Asia’s first pre-profit biotech listing Ascletis Pharma ends unchanged in debut trade

Ascletis Pharma, the first unprofitable early-stage biotechnology company to list in Hong Kong under revised rules, ended flat during its debut on Wednesday.

Shares of the Chinese maker of HIV, cancer and liver disease drugs closed unchanged from its initial public offering price at HK$14 after rising as much as 6.4 per cent in intraday trading. The Hangzhou-based drug maker posted a net loss of 86.9 million yuan (US$12.8 million) last year, according to its prospectus.
Ascletis Pharma’s first-day trading performance was better than smartphone maker Xiaomi, the first company with the dual-class structure to list in the city, though China’s pharmaceutical industry has been recently plagued by a scandal over vaccine production data forgery. Xiaomi dropped 1.2 per cent during its debut last month. However, since then the share has been trading stronger, having risen 6.3 per cent to HK$17.86.

“Given it is the first biotech stock under the new listing regime to debut, some retail investors would find it an attractive speculative bet,” said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director of VC Asset Management, noting the stock had traded as high as HK$15.6 in the grey market earlier. “This is despite the recent product quality scandals in the pharmaceutical sector … stock investors tend to have short memories.”

Investors’ lukewarm appetite for hi-tech companies may be a setback for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chief executive Charles Li Xiaojia. Still, he said the listing reform has attracted biotechnology and other technology firms to list in Hong Kong.

“Biotechnology firms and other innovative industry have a lot of room of development,” Li said after attending the listing ceremony of Ascletis on Wednesday morning.

Li said the HKEX would continue to work with the mainland regulator to allow the dual class shareholding companies to be able to be traded by the mainlanders via the stock connects.