Innovent Biologics, a China-based biopharmaceutical company that counts corporates China Life, Eli Lilly, Legend Holdings, Ping An and Taikang as investors, is raising $421m in its initial public offering, Reuters reported today.
The company is issuing 236 million shares priced at HK$13.98 ($1.78) each, near the top of the $1.60 to $1.80m range the company had set, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A total of 10 cornerstone investors including Sequoia Capital China, Value Partners Hong Kong and Prime Capital Funds have purchased $245m worth of shares in the offering. Innovent will start trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on October 31.
Founded in 2011, Innovent Biologics is working on treatments for cancer, eye conditions, autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular diseases. It has 17 assets in its pipeline, with four candidates in late-stage clinical development.
Proceeds will support ongoing and planned clinical trials and go towards the commercialisation of several drug candidates.
The company has raised $562m in funding to date, most recently closing a $150m series E round in April this year backed by insurance firm Taikang and Legend Capital, the venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings.
The series E was led by private equity fund manager Capital Group Private Markets and included Lilly Asia Ventures, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, as well as Temasek, Hillhouse Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Rock Springs Capital and Ally Bridge Group.
Legend Capital and insurance providers China Life, Taikang and Ping An had already taken part in a $262m series D round in 2016 led by China’s State Development and Investment Corporation and backed by Temasek and Hillhouse.
Innovent closed its $115m series C round in December 2015, after Suzhou Industrial Park participated in a $15m second tranche that followed a $100m first close led by Legend Capital in January that year.
The initial series C close was also backed by Lilly Asia Ventures, Frontline Bioventures and F-Prime Capital, an investment arm of financial services conglomerate Fidelity International.
Lilly Asia Ventures and F-Prime Capital invested as part of the $25m first tranche of a $30m series B round that closed in 2013, after F-Prime had injected $5m in series A funding in 2011.
The company’s notable shareholders include F-Prime (8.9% pre-IPO), Temsaek vehicle TLS Beta (7.3%), Lilly Asia (7.2%), Legend Capital (5.9%), China Life (5.1%), Hillhouse (4.9%), Ping An (1.9%) and Taikang (1.5%).
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and CMS are the underwriters for the offering.
