FAST NEWS: TaiMed tumbles in Hong Kong trading debut

The Latest: Shares of Zhejiang Taimei Medical Technology Co. Ltd. (2576.HK) opened at HK$11.24 in their Tuesday trading debut, down 13.5% from their IPO price of HK$13, giving the medical services provider a market capitalization of about HK$2.21 billion ($283 million).

Looking Up: The local portion of the company’s public offering was oversubscribed by 155 times, reflecting strong demand from retail investors.

Take Note: The company raised HK$260 million from its sale of 25.78 million shares, far less than the HK$780 million target it was reportedly seeking.

Digging Deeper: TaiMed is a digital platform for the life sciences industry, covering pharmaceutical R&D, pharmacovigilance, and pharmaceutical marketing services. It combines advanced technologies such as AI, big data and mobile internet to enhance the overall quality and efficiency of pharmaceutical R&D, and has developed business with over 1,100 pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CRO). The company’s revenue has risen steadily over the past three years, but it has also lost more than 1.2 billion yuan combined during the period due to high selling, R&D, and administrative expenses. In the first quarter of this year, its revenue rose 2.2% to 132 million yuan, while its loss widened by 11.8% to 116 million yuan.

Market Reaction: TaiMed’s shares extended their early declines on Tuesday morning, closing at HK$10.44 at the midday break, down 19.7% from the IPO price.

Translation by A. Au

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