Fosun biotech unit Henlius has no plans for Shanghai tech board listing and is focused on Hong Kong IPO
- Hong Kong flotation is our priority, CEO says
Shanghai Henlius Biotech, a spin-off of Hong Kong and mainland China-listed Fosun Pharmaceutical, said it had no immediate plans of listing on Shanghai’s upcoming Technology Innovation Board, as it focuses on an initial public offering in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai-based biotechnology company applied to the Hong Kong stock exchange for a listing in December 2018, and is bucking the trend when it comes to a flotation on mainland China’s new Nasdaq-style market.
As of Friday, 93 companies had submitted IPO documents to the Shanghai bourse, just a month after it began accepting listing applications. The new board is expected to launch sometime mid this year.
“We have not made plans for an IPO on the board yet,” Scott Liu Shigao, president and chief executive of Henlius, said on Saturday. “Our priority is the Hong Kong IPO.”
Technically, Henlius can apply for a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Bloomberg reported last year that it would seek to raise at least US$500 million from its Hong Kong share sale. The company has yet to say how much it aims to raise.
The company has 20 products in the pipeline. On Saturday, it launched a MabThera “biosimilar” product for the treatment of common forms of lymphatic cancers and leukaemia, the first of its kind on the mainland, after receiving approval from Chinese drug authorities. Biosimilars are officially approved versions of original products and can be manufactured when the original product's patent expires.