Shares of Chinese biopharmaceutical company CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell as much as 29% in their Hong Kong trading debut after the company staged an initial public offering to fund research into rare diseases.
Shares of the Beijing-based company dropped from their offering price of 12.18 Hong Kong dollars and were recently 27% lower at HK$8.90 in Friday mid-morning trade.
CANbridge Pharmaceuticals, which focuses on researching rare diseases, raised net proceeds of around HK$604 million (US$77.5 million) in its offering, including from cornerstone investors such as Wuxi Biologics and asset-management firm Janus Henderson. The company intends to use proceeds to fund research and development for rare diseases including brain cancer, as well as for product launches.
CANbridge operates in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S. and has products and a pipeline focused on rare oncology, rare diseases, gene therapy and others. It was founded in 2012.
Chinese companies are rushing to wrap up deals in Hong Kong before the end of the year, with those in industries ranging from healthcare to real estate raising billions of dollars in combined proceeds.
