PE-backed Harbour BioMed raises $221m in Hong Kong IPO

The company sold 138.2 million shares at HK$12.38 apiece, the mid-point of the indicative range, according to a filing. Nine cornerstone investors – including Hillhouse Capital, Hudson Bay Capital, Legend Capital, OrbiMed, and 3W Partners – covered approximately 42% of the offering. Harbour BioMed’s stock opened at HK$11.94 on December 10 and closed at HK$11.02.

Its market capitalization is HK$8.45 billion ($1.01 billion). The most recent private funding round in July, a Series C led by Hudson Bay, was completed at a valuation of $780 million.

Founded in 2016, Harbour BioMed has a pipeline of 10 immunology and oncology drugs. The two most advanced treatments were in-licensed from Hanall Biopharma. One – a monoclonal antibody that targets autoimmune diseases – is currently in phase-two clinical trials in mainland China. The other, which tackles dry eye disease, is in phase-three trials.

On the oncology side, Harbour BioMed has developed its own antibody platforms focused on treating solid tumors, notably in situations where patients are intolerant to current immune-oncology combination therapies. These are based on intellectual property in-licensed from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, to which Harbour BioMed has exclusive worldwide rights. One oncology treatment is in phase-one trials in Australia.

The company is also working with Utrecht University and Erasmus University, as well as US biopharma player AbbVie, on a potential treatment for COVID-19. This work is based on a neutralizing antibody discovered on Harbour BioMed’s antibody platforms.

Advantech is the largest external shareholder with 12.18%, followed by Legend on 8.53% and GIC on 6.59%. Other pre-IPO investors together hold approximately 26.5%. They include CDH Investments, China Life, Vertex Ventures China, SK Holdings, Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund, Efung Capital, OrbiMed, GTJA Investment Group, Octagon Capital, and Sage Partners.

Harbour BioMed raised $59.2 million in Series A funding across multiple tranches in 2017 and 2018. A Series B of $85 million came later in 2018, followed by an extension of $75 million and a $102.8 million Series C in 2020.

Harbour BioMed generated $5.4 million in revenue in 2019, up from $1.5 million the previous year. Over the same period, the company’s net loss nearly doubled to $67.5 million. In the first half of 2020, revenue and net loss were $6 million and $48.4 million, respectively. It is listing under the provision that permits pre-revenue biotech companies to do IPOs in Hong Kong.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• IPO
• China
• Pharmaceuticals
• Advantech Capital
• GIC Private
• Legend Capital
• OrbiMed
• CDH Investments Management
• GTJA Investment Group
• Vertex Ventures