(Reuters/IFR) – Zai Lab Ltd is planning a Hong Kong float after its Nasdaq debut last year, in what would be the second U.S.-listed Chinese biotech firm to return to the city following an implementation of new listing rules, sources said.
Source: www.reuters.com
Zai Lab is an innovative biopharmaceutical company based in Shanghai, engaging in discovering, licensing, developing, and commercializing proprietary therapeutics that address medical needs in the fields of oncology, autoimmune and infectious disease therapies. After an IPO of $172 million on NASDAQ in September 2017, Zai Labs is planning to list on the Hong Kong exchange in early 2019. There has been a buzz in the Biotech industry to take advantage of the relaxed norms of Hong Kong markets.
Hong Kong relaxed its rules for listing under Chapter 18A for Biotech firms in April 2018 allowing Biotech firms without profit/revenues to list on its exchanges. This move allows pre-revenues Biotech firms to raise money easily and conveniently. Hong Kong will become a Biotech oasis which could culminate in the form of a boom for global Biotech industry or may transform into a bubble.
