Viva Biotech Holdings raises US$194m in Hong Kong's hottest biotech float

The drug discovery platform attracted retail orders for about 107 times the shares initially available.

Bloomberg reports that drug discovery platform Viva Biotech Holdings has raised US$194m in what is considered as Hong Kong’s most popular biotech initial public offering (IPO) in 2019.

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The Shanghai-based company lured retail investors with orders for about 107 times the shares initially available to them, the highest ratio amongst 2019 offerings above $100m in the city, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

The sale was completed during the first week of May, before the escalation of China-US trade tensions that tanked global equities market.

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Another biotech firm CanSino Biologics Inc. attracted orders for 91 times its initial retail tranche in March, making it Hong Kong’s second hottest IPO of above US$100m in 2019.

Read the full report here.