BRIEF: PegBio slumps in Hong Kong trading debut

Shares of biopharmaceutical company PegBio Co. Ltd. (2565.HK) slumped in their Hong Kong trading debut on Tuesday. The stock opened at HK$13, down 6.67% from its IPO price of HK$15.60, and continued to drop during the morning session, closing down 19.49% at HK$12.56 by the midday break.

The company said it raised net proceeds of HK$232 million ($30 million) by selling 19.3 million shares. The Hong Kong public offering for local investors was oversubscribed by 743 times, triggering a clawback mechanism that increased the retail tranche to 9.64 million shares, or 50% of the total offering. The international placement was 1.13 times oversubscribed.

Founded in 2008, PegBio is a biotechnology company focused on innovative therapies for chronic diseases, with a strong emphasis on metabolic disorders. Its core product is a proprietary long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist developed in-house, primarily used as a first-line treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

The company has yet to commercialize any products, and thus recorded no revenue last year. It posted a net loss of 280 million yuan for the year, 1.5% more than a year earlier.

By Lee Shih Ta

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