Rec-Biotechnology (RecBio), the China-based vaccine developer backed by conglomerates China Resources and Legend Holdings, has raised HK$765m ($97.7m) in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The company issued nearly 30.9 million shares priced at HK$24.80 each. Subsidiaries of pharmaceutical firm Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, investment manager Harvest Global Investments and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China paid $53m to buy more than half of the issued shares as anchor investors.
Founded in 2012, RecBio focuses on developing vaccine candidates for viruses such as human papillomavirus (HPV) and sars-cov-2, the latter of which causes covid-19, using technologies including novel adjuvants, protein engineering and immunological evaluation platforms.
The company had secured about $158m in a June 2021 series C round co-led by Temasek and Lake Bleu Capital and backed by Legend Capital, the VC firm spun off by Legend Holdings, as well as Boyu Capital, E Fund Management, Lyfe Capital and Sequoia Capital China.
Legend Capital had already taken part in a $227m series B round for RecBio in late 2020 together with Lyfe Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Vertex Ventures China, Haitong Securities’ HT Capital unit, Co-Stone Asset Management, YuanBio Venture Capital, Tsing Song Capital and China Everbright.
RecBio’s $73.5m series A round the previous year had featured CR Capital Management, an affiliate of state-backed conglomerate China Resources, in addition to Oriental Fortune Capital.
The proceeds from the IPO will be used for research and development, manufacturing and commercialisation efforts to help the company’s HPV vaccine candidates compete against those from global peers present in the local market such as Merck & Co. It will also further develop its covid-19 vaccine candidate.
RecBio had logged a RMB520m ($82.1m) loss during the first nine months of 2021, up from RMB179m and RMB138m booked in the two previous years. Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, CMB International Capital and CLSA Capital Markets were joint sponsors for the offering.
