China-based cancer treatment developer Kintor Pharmaceutical has raised HK$1.86bn ($240m) in an initial public offering featuring an $89m cornerstone investment by appliance manufacturer Gree, DealStreetAsia has reported.
Gree’s funding formed part of a $115m cornerstone investment in which it was joined by healthcare investment firm Highlight Capital and mutual fund Foresight Fund.
The company issued approximately 92.4 million shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange priced at the top of the IPO’s HK$17.80 to HK$20.15 range.
Kintor’s lead product candidate is a prostate cancer drug called proxalutamide that is currently in phase 3 clinical trials in China and phase 2 trials in the US, but it is also working on treatments for breast cancer.
The IPO proceeds will go to clinical trials and research and development in addition to the creation of a planned hair loss treatment.
The company had closed nine rounds of funding since 2011 according to DealStreetAsia. Highlight Capital invested $10m in Kintor in 2015, before Green Pine Capital Partners led a $44m round in January 2018.
Kintor completed a $45m round in October 2019 that included Shanghai Free Trade Zone Equity Fund, CCB International, Huajin Capital and Yicheng Hongtai Investment.
Other investors in the company include Legend Star, the early-stage investment arm of conglomerate Legend Holdings, and Oriza Holdings.
Huatai International is lead underwriter for the IPO while CMB International, China Renaissance, Haitong, CCB International and Everbright Sun Hung Kai are joint bookrunners.
Kintor claims the offering was 500 times oversubscribed. The underwriters have the option to buy almost HK$271m additional shares which would increase its size to about $275m.
