Biotech player CANbridge drops on debut after $87m HK IPO

The company sold 56.3 million shares for HK$12.18 apiece, with seven cornerstone investors – including RA Capital, Hudson Bay Capital, General Atlantic, WuXi Biologics, and Ruihua Capital – contributing $60 million, according to a filing. Lyfe Capital, an existing investor, also put in approximately HK$15.4 million.

The stock opened at HK$9.80 on December 10 and reached HK$9.99 during morning trading, before falling back to close at HK$8.90, a 27% deficit to the IPO price. Its market capitalization is HK$3.78 billion ($485 million).

CANbridge has raised $269 million in private funding across five rounds from the likes of RA Capital, Hudson Bay, General Atlantic, Lyfe, TF Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and two of China’s leading contract research organizations – WuXi AppTec and Tigermed. WuXi AppTec, which controls WuXi Biologics, has invested directly and through a healthcare fund.

The first tranche of the Series E, which saw 3W Fund Management lead a $43 million investment in November 2020, valued the company at $560.3 million. This was followed six months later by a second tranche of $15 million at a valuation of $575.5 million.

WuXi AppTec is the largest external shareholder post-IPO with 9.51%. RA Capital and Qiming have 8.62% and 7.74%, respectively. No other external investor has more than 5%.

Founded in 2015, CANbridge has a pipeline of 13 drug assets, of which three have entered commercialization. Four more are in clinical trials. Key products include Hunterase, which targets Hunter Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder in which the body doesn’t properly digest sugar molecules, and Asunercept, a treatment for glioblastoma, a cancer that occurs in the brain or spinal cord.

The drugs in commercialization are Hunterase, breast cancer treatment Nerlynx, and Caphosol, a mouth rinse used to treat oral inflammation and ulcers. There are plans to grow the commercialization team to more than 300 members in the next five years.

CANbridge in-licenses drugs, leveraging partnerships with Apogenix, GC Pharma, Mirum, Privus, and LogicBio. It is also working with WuXi Biologics on a rare disease treatment development program and with the University of Massachusetts Medical School on research into gene therapy solutions for neuromuscular disorders.

Revenue reached RMB12 million ($1.9 million) in 2020, up from RMB1.47 million a year earlier. Over the same period, the company’s net loss widened from RMB217.7 million to RMB846 million, largely due to rising R&D expenses. CANbridge is one of more than 30 Chinese start-ups to list in Hong Kong under provisions allowing IPOs by pre-revenue biotech companies.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• IPO
• Healthcare
• China
• Pharmaceuticals
• Qiming Venture Partners
• General Atlantic
• Lyfe Capital
• IPO