Chinese drugmaker Beigene Ltd raised $903 million in a second listing in Hong Kong this week, following a surge in its share price on the Nasdaq encouraged demand from investors.
The listing brings Beigene’s market capitalisation to $9.8 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The sum raised in Hong Kong already greatly exceeds the $182 million generated in its IPO in 2016. Beigene still retains the option to sell 15% more stock which could push takings as high as $1.04 billion.
The company’s stock was offered at HK$108 (US$13.76), towards the top of its price range and at a 1.6% discount from its Nasdaq-listed shares.
Beigene joins a small group of other unprofitable biotech/pharma companies that are taking advantage of Hong Kong’s new listing regulations. In April, the city’s securities regulators issued rules allowing small healthcare and biotech firms without a profit-making history to issue shares on its exchange, in a bid to attract promising businesses in an industry where profits are often slow to accumulate.