PE-backed SciClone achieves $1.6b market cap on HK re-listing

The company sold approximately 115.9 shares at HK$18.80 apiece – the top end of the indicative range – to raise HK$2.18 billion in its IPO, according to a filing. Cornerstone investors covered nearly half of the offering. SciClone’s stock opened at HK$18.48 on March 3 and ended the day at HK$18.80. It slipped by 4.15% on March 4 to close at HK$18.02.

GL Capital, a healthcare specialist established by the former head of Novartis in China, was the lead investor when SciClone de-listed from NASDAQ. It was joined by CDH Investments, Ascendent Capital Partners, and a Bank of China investment unit. GL is now the largest shareholder with a 28.78% stake, the prospectus shows. Bank of China has 12.47%, while CDH and Ascendent own 15.72% and 15.27%, respectively.

Established in 1990, SciClone is best known for producing Zadaxin, which stimulates the immune system to fight diseases, such as hepatitis, as well as various forms of cancer. The drug was first commercialized in China in 1996 and it has since been approved in multiple jurisdictions. Zadaxin accounted for 80.2% of the company’s revenue in 2019, with 71.6% coming from Sinopharm, the exclusive distributor in China.

While Zadaxin was developed in-house, SciClone’s other products are either in-licensed or promoted in China on behalf of business partners. The only commercialized in-licensed offering is Zometa, which was developed by Novartis. It is used to treat patients with bone marrow cancer or where cancer cells have spread into the bone. Angiomax, an in-licensed blood thinner given to patients about to undergo non-surgical heart procedures, is expected to enter commercialization in the first quarter of 2021.

In recent years, SciClone has started to build a pipeline of drug candidates with a focus on oncology and severe infections. Five are classified as late-stage in that they have completed – or are about to complete – new drug application (NDA) submissions in China, or they plan on using advanced clinical data from overseas to make NDA applications in China. Three more are in phase-two clinical trials or earlier.

In 2016, the year before it was privatized, SciClone generated $160.1 million in revenue and $30.7 million in net profit. Revenue reached RMB1.71 billion ($264 million) in 2019, up from RMB1.41 billion a year earlier. Over the same period, net profit rose from RMB535.1 million to RMB614.6 million. For the first nine months of 2020, revenue and net profit were RMB1.58 billion and RMB689.7 million.

Of the IPO proceeds, the company plans to use approximately 30% to acquire or in-license drug candidates, 28% to pay down debt, and 26% to support the development and commercialization of clinical-stage candidates. The rest will go towards sales and marketing coverage and studies on additional clinical adoptions of its marketed product portfolio.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• IPO
• China
• Ascendent Capital
• CDH Investments Management
• GL Capital
• Bank of China
• Pharmaceuticals