Iceland biotech firm mulls US$350m pre-IPO fundraising

Alvotech’s potential IPO is another win for Hong Kong bourse which recently liberalised its listing regime.

Bloomberg reports that Iceland-based biosimilars producer Alvotech is mulling a private funding round that could raise US$350m ahead of a potential flotation in Hong Kong.

The firm, which produces biosimilars or nearly identical copies of existing drugs made out of biological material, is a sister company of CVC Capital-backed generic drugmaker Alvogen, is considering a Hong Kong listing as soon as next year, sources told Bloomberg.

The potential listing of the biotech firm is set to be another win for Hong Kong which recently reformed its listing regime to make room for biotech firms with no track record of profitability to list.

Also read: Hong Kong's bourse reform plan seeks to tap on Chinese drug stocks

The biotech sector was chosen as focus in widening market access as they make up a majority of companies in the pre-revenue stage seeking a Main Board listing and activities like clinical trials tend to be highly regulated under the current regime that sets external milestones on development progress, an earlier noted reported.

Also read: Can Hong Kong successfully lure biotech firms from Nasdaq?

This follows a slew of biotech firms who are pushing into Hong Kong including Amazon-backed Grail, Shanghai Henlius Biotech and Hua Medicine. 

Here’s more from Bloomberg: