China-based biopharmaceutical company I-Mab, which is backed by pharmaceutical firm Tasly and immunotherapeutics developer Genexine, raised approximately $104m when it went public in the US on Friday.
I-Mab priced just over 7 million American Depositary shares (each representing 23 normal shares) at $14.00 each, towards the upper end of the $12 to $15 range it had set for the initial public offering. They closed at $12.50 after its first day of trading on the Nasdaq Global Market.
Founded in 2016, I-Mab is developing treatments for cancers and autoimmune disorders in addition to other diseases in areas of high unmet need.
About $50m of the IPO proceeds will be channelled into development of I-Mab’s drug pipeline, funding phase 1, 1b and phase 2 clinical trials for prospective medications. Another $15m will go to upgrading its manufacturing capabilities.
The company agreed $27m in funding from pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec’s WuXi Biologics HealthCare Venture unit, research services firm Tigermed and Caesar Pro Holdings in July 2019.
Genexine, CBC Capital and Qianhai Ark Cayman invested $24m in I-Mab between September 2017 and July 2018 according to the IPO filing.
I-Mab announced $220m in series C funding from Tasly’s corporate venturing arm, Tasly Capital, as well as Legend Capital, CBC vehicle C-Bridge Capital, Hony Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Hopu Investments, CDH Investment, Ally Bridge Group and EDBI the following month.
The company had received $48m from CBC Capital in September 2017 and another $30m from CBC and Genexine later the same month, according to the filing. An entity called IBC Investment Seven had provided $13m in funding in 2016.
I-Mab issued $37m in shares to pharmaceutical company Everest Medicines through the offering, as part of an agreement where it took full rights to a drug candidate they were working on together as a result of an early 2018 partnership formed by the companies.
The company’s largest shareholder is CBC Capital, the private equity firm formerly known as C-Bridge. It owned a 38% stake that will be cut slightly to 35.3% despite taking on the shares issued to Everest, which it owns.
Tasly received just over 200,000 shares in the offering that were converted from the series C round and has an 11.1% stake, down from 14%. Hony Capital has a 7.3% stake post-IPO and Genexine 6.9%.
C-Bridge had expressed interest in buying at least $15m of the shares in the IPO, part of a range of existing backers interested in purchasing some $48m of shares, though they have not confirmed whether they have done so.
Jefferies and China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities are joint book-running managers for the IPO while China Renaissance Securities (Hong Kong) and Huatai Securities (USA) are lead managers.
The underwriters have a 30-day option to acquire another 1.11 million ADSs, which would boost the size of the offering to more than $119m.
