Near-unicorn Prestige Biopharma eyes early-2021 IPO in South Korea

Singapore

SINGAPORE-BASED Prestige Biopharma is in the midst of pursuing an initial public offering (IPO) on the Korea Exchange, with a targeted listing in early 2021, the firm's chief executive Lisa Park said in response to queries from The Business Times (BT).

Earlier on Friday, BT reported that Prestige Biopharma's Singapore-registered entity had been been fully acquired by the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), as shown in Dec 8 regulatory data on intelligence platform VentureCap Insights.

Prestige Biopharma was last valued at US$826.9 million after raising US$71.5 million in a Series B round, VentureCap data shows. This puts it near a US$1 billion valuation, or so-called unicorn status. Ms Park declined to disclose how much the firm is raising in the IPO.

Founded in 2015, Prestige Biopharma specialises in the development of antibody therapeutics, such as biosimilars - copies of certain types of drugs that can treat diseases.

Ms Park said: "Our rationale in pursuing a listing is to secure additional stability and funding to accelerate our drug development, both in biosimilars and innovative new antibody drugs for unmet medical needs.

"The Korea Exchange has a good appetite and perception of the bio industry, especially biopharmaceuticals. An IPO will position our company at the next level and enable us to become one of the top biopharmaceutical companies in the world."

The firm's Singapore entity posted a US$1.3 million loss for the year ended June 2019, on the back of US$1.68 million in revenue from license fees, regulatory filings show.

Prestige Biopharma's Series B backers include Singapore family office Octava, Korea's KB Financial Group, and the entities Vulcan Venture Investment and CQ Capital. Octava had also invested US$48.3 million in the firm's earlier rounds, VentureCap data shows.

Prestige Biopharma's listing ambitions come as the Korean stock market gains traction among global investors.

On Dec 11, Bloomberg reported that global funds are buying shares in Korea's stock market at the fastest pace in four years this quarter. This has made the Kospi Asia's best-performing major benchmark this year. JPMorgan Chase & Co has predicted that the Kospi will hit 3,200 by 2021.