Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Goldman Sachs and UBS as joint sponsors of biopharmaceutical company CARsgen Therapeutics Holdings Limited (02171.HK)’s mainboard listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
CARsgen Therapeutics focuses on innovative CAR-T cell therapies for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors with operations in China and the US. The company has 11 products in the pipeline (10 are CAR-T cell therapies focused) with six at pre-clinic stage. With seven IND clearances for CAR-T therapies in China, the US and Canada, the company ranks the first among Chinese CAR-T companies.
The IPO was over-subscribed more than 400 times at the Hong Kong public offering, raised over HK$3.1 billion (approximately US$400 million), and listed on 18 June 2021. The offering attracted nine cornerstone investors that subscribed to almost 50% of the issued shares.
“We are delighted to have worked with CARsgen, one of the leading CAR-T cell therapies specialists on its successful listing on the HKEx,” said Hong Kong partner Matt Emsley. “CARsgen is the latest to take advantage of the Exchange’s Chapter 18A biotech/pharma changes to its Listing Rules to leverage the capital markets successfully.”
Herbert Smith Freehills has advised on a number of biotech listings since the Hong Kong exchange introduced its new regime for biotech listings in 2018, including those by Shanghai Junshi Biosciences (01877.HK), TOT BIOPHARM (01875.HK), SinoMab Bioscience Limited (03681.HK), Peijia Medical (09996.HK) and Antengene Corporation Limited (06996.HK).
“CARsgen Therapeutics is another emerging Chinese biopharmaceutical company with proprietary R&D capabilities, and more are in the IPO pipeline this year,” said Herbert Smith Freehills Kewei joint operation partner Stanley Xie. “We congratulate CARsgen Therapeutics and sponsors on this successful IPO.”
CARsgen Therapeutics’ vision is to become a global biopharmaceutical leader that brings innovative and differentiated cell therapies to cancer patients worldwide, they also believe that they are a key player in the field of CAR-T cell therapies – a market where global sales are expected to increase from US$0.7 billion in 2019 to US$6.6 billion in 2024, and three-fold to US$21.8 billion in 2030.
Matt and Stanley jointly led the team advising the sponsors, assisted by partner Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan in Singapore; of counsel George Wu, senior associate Maisie Ko, associates Echo Shen and Angela Yuen, and legal manager Hilary Chong in Hong Kong, and associate Sean Ji from the joint operation. Sydney solicitor Sunny Li, Hong Kong trainee solicitor Jasmin Tsang and paralegal Alisha Chan and paralegal Jessica Sun from the joint operation also provided support.
Associate Director Lucy Yao led Herbert Smith Freehills Kewei Joint Operation’s Alternative Legal Services business to provide high-efficiency solutions for verification and other document-intensive processes during the offering, assisted by Senior Lawyer Helen Liang, Legal Specialist Selina Wang and Legal Analyst Shawna Peng.
