/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f26bfec49adacc4190ec4ec/0x0.jpg)
The latest in a string of China-based pharmaceutical-related companies said on Sunday it plans sell new shares amid a big run-up in its stock price.
China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings is looking to sell 172 million shares at HK$5.90 each, raising the equivalent of $130 million to fund research and technology investments. China Grand’s shares soared by 8% on Friday at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to close at record high of HK$7.34. They’ve gained 80% in the past year.
China Grand is controlled by billionaire Hu Kaijun, who has a fortune worth $2.3 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today. His fortune also comes from holdings in Huadong Medicine, a China medicine supplier, and real estate.
China is one of the world’s largest suppliers of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and medical devices. COVID-19 has put an investment spotlight on suppliers headquartered in the country as the pandemic increases demand for their products and services.
Among other fundraising announcements in just the past week, WuXi AppTec, the drug R&D service company controlled by billionaire Ge Li, said it would seek to raise more than $950 million in a stock sale, in part to fund overseas expansion, and Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting, a large clinical contract research organization led by billionaire Ye Xiaoping, launched a secondary listing in Hong Kong that aims to raise as much as $1.4 billion. WuXi’s AppTec’s shares have gained nearly 150% in Shanghai in the past year; Tigermed’s have more than doubled at China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
OncoSec Medical, a San Diego, California company that develops late-stage cancer immunotherapies, announced earlier this year that China Grand and its U.S. affiliate Sirtex had purchased $30 million of its shares, and China Grand would work to sell OncoSec treatments in China.
China is home to the world’s second-largest number of billionaires after the United States.
See related posts:
Forbes China to Host Healthcare Summit
Shanghai Drug Maker Gets $97 Mln From Fidelty, GIC, Others
@rflannerychina