Chinese drug developer Hua Medicine is planning to raise at least $400 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong in the latest in a series of biotech floats in the city, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Hong Kong is formulating new rules for early-stage drug developers in an effort to woo companies in the fast-growing sector - notably those in China - into choosing the city over New York, the traditional hub for initial public offerings from the industry.
Shanghai-based Hua, a diabetes-focused drug developer, had considered both locations but selected Hong Kong because of the city's proposed new listings regime, which Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing expects to have in place within a couple of months, said a source with direct knowledge of the deliberations.
Goldman Sachs (GS.N) is leading the transaction while CLSA, the offshore platform of China's Citic Securities, is also working on the deal, the sources added. The company plans to go public in the second half of the year, said one of them.
Goldman and CLSA declined to comment. Hua didn't respond to a request for comment. Hua will be joining a slew of biotechs interested in Hong Kong's less-demanding listing rules. Other hopefuls include Shanghai Tasly Pharmaceutical, the biopharma unit of Tasly Pharmaceutical Group, Shanghai Henlius Biotec, a subsidiary of Fosun's pharmaceutical unit and US-based cancer detection start-up Grail.
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