By Wang Shen
The WuXi AppTec Company's board of directors decided to issue overseas listed foreign shares (H-shares) and apply for listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as reported by the Shanghai Securities News on Monday.
Established in 2000, WuXi AppTec is a leading global pharmaceutical and medical device open-access capability and technology platform with global operations. As an innovation-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi AppTec provides a broad and integrated portfolio of services throughout the drug research and development (R&D) process.
WuXi AppTec entered the A-share market two months ago. If this issuance could be completed, it would start its "A+H" era.
WuXi AppTec announced that the shares issued this time were all common H-shares at RMB 1 per share. The number of shares accounted for 10 percent to 15 percent of the total shares.
After deducting the related issuance expenses, the funds raised from the WuXi AppTec H-shares will be used for expanding the scale of its operations, investment and construction projects, acquisition and merger, repayment of bank loans, and replenishment of its working capital.
WuXi AppTec was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2007, and its business model and corporate value had been recognized in the international market.
In 2015, the company was privatized and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Since then, it has been playing an essential role in the field of global pharmaceutical R&D with its strong R&D capabilities.
At present, WuXi App Tec's open R&D platform directly serves more than 3,000 customers through 26 R&D bases and branches around the world. Of the new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017, 70 percent came from WuXi App Tec's partners.
Li Ge, the chairman of WuXi AppTec, promoted the listing of WuXi Biologics, a WuXi AppTec affiliate, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June last year. Currently, the stock price of WuXi Biologics is HK$ 87.35 per share, with a total market value of HK$ 106.94 billion. WuXi AppTec's present A-share market value is RMB 98.9 billion.
