Legend Biotech, a cellular therapy developer spun off by China-based biotech producer Genscript Biotech, closed its initial public offering at about $487m yesterday.
The IPO consisted of approximately 21.2 million American depositary shares, representing two common shares each, on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. They were priced at $23.00 each, above its $18 to $20 range.
That amount includes the full over-allotment option, which was exercised by joint book-running managers Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Jefferies, while GenScript bought an additional $23m of shares in a concurrent private placement.
The spinoff floated last Friday and its shares closed at $37.50 yesterday, giving it a valuation of about $4.85bn. Its investors include pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly.
Legend Biotech is working on cancer treatments and will put up to $185m of the IPO proceeds into clinical development of its lead drug candidate, LCAR-B38M/JNJ-4528, which it is developing in partnership with Janssen Biotech, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Between $60m and $75m will be put into building out Legend Biotech’s production facilities while up to $20m will fund the potential commercial launch of LCAR-B38M/JNJ-4528, which is being developed to target multiple myeloma.
The company raised an amount placed at approximately $161m by the IPO prospectus, in an April 2020 round featuring Lilly Asia Ventures and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, subsidiaries of Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson respectively.
The series A round was also backed by Hudson Bay Capital Management’s HBC Asia Healthcare Opportunities III fund, Capital Group’s Smallcap World Fund, Vivo Capital, Nexus Fund and RA Capital’s Healthcare Fund and Blackwell Partners.
GenScript has retained a 66% stake in Legend Biotech post-IPO, down from 76.9%. The next largest shareholder is an investment vehicle known as AquaPoint.
