PE-backed Brii Bioscience pursues Hong Kong listing
Brii Biosciences, a three-year-old Chinese biotech start-up that has raised approximately $415 million in private funding from the likes of Sequoia Capital China, Boyu Capital, and Yunfeng Capital, has filed for a Hong Kong IPO.
The company began operations in May 2018 after securing exclusive Greater China rights to four assets from US-based Vir Biotechnology. Partnerships were also announced with Alibaba Group to develop new medicines with AliHealth, as well as with WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics to cooperate on R&D.
Around the same time, Sequoia, Boyu and Yunfeng were joined by Arch Ventures Partners, 6 Dimensions Capital, and Blue Pool Capital in Series A and B rounds together worth $260 million. Yunfeng is a private equity firm established by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, while Blue Pool is said to manage the family money of Ma and Joe Tsai, Alibaba’s executive vice-chairman.
Last month, Invesco led a $155 million round – described as a Series C – for Brii, with participation from GIC and Lake Bleu Capital. The post-money valuation was $1.45 billion, up from $198 million in the Series A.
The company has added to its portfolio and now boasts a pipeline of more than 10 innovative product candidates. They include treatments for hepatitis B, HIV, tuberculosis, bacterial infections, COVID-19, paranoid personality disorder, and depression. The hepatitis B and COVID-19 candidates are the most advanced. They are in phase-two clinical trials in China and globally, respectively.
Brii generated RMB84.6 million ($12.9 million) in income for 2020, up from RMB20.3 million the previous year. Its net loss widened from RMB535.3 million to RMB1.17 billion, largely due to a 10-fold increase in R&D spending. It is listing under provisions that allow pre-revenue biotech companies to go public in Hong Kong.
Boyu is the largest shareholder in Brii with 18.53%, closely followed by 6 Dimensions and Arch with 17.8% apiece, according to the IPO prospectus. Sequoia and Yunfeng each own 9.72%, while Vir has 5.68%, Invesco has 3.64%, Blue Pool has 3.02%, and GIC has 2.18%. Zhi Hong, Brii’s co-founder and CEO, holds 5.45%.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.