For­get Nas­daq. Chi­na’s biotechs with block­buster IPO dreams are switch­ing fo­cus to Hong Kong

On Mon­day, the Hong Kong ex­change is set to open its doors and list­ings to com­pa­nies with no rev­enue, and a line­up of biotech uni­corns are pay­ing rapt at­ten­tion.

This morn­ing Reuters is re­port­ing that two big Chi­nese up­starts — In­novent Bi­o­log­ics and As­cen­t­age Phar­ma — have switched fo­cus from New York to the Hong Kong bourse, look­ing to raise about $800 mil­lion.

“We were al­ready ready to file (an IPO ap­pli­ca­tion) in the Unit­ed States, but we have shift­ed to Hong Kong for list­ing as the HKEX opens its doors to us,” As­cen­t­age chair­man Yang Da­jun told Reuters. “This is great news for biotech firms which are based in Chi­na and want to tap more Chi­nese and Asian in­vestors.”

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