Hong Kong clears way for pre-rev­enue biotech IPOs, plans to ac­cept list­ing ap­pli­ca­tions by May

A much an­tic­i­pat­ed rule change in Hong Kong’s stock ex­change will take ef­fect at the end of this month, mark­ing a new era where qual­i­fied biotechs can list on the bourse be­fore earn­ing rev­enue.

Hong Kong Ex­change and Clear­ings will start ac­cept­ing list­ing ap­pli­ca­tions un­der new rules on April 30, chief ex­ec­u­tive Charles Li told lo­cal re­porters Fri­day, on the heels of con­sul­ta­tion re­sults ex­pect­ed to come out on April 24. That will of­fi­cial­ly re­move a ma­jor im­ped­i­ment for bio­phar­ma com­pa­nies look­ing to raise cap­i­tal in the pub­lic mar­ket, which had pre­vi­ous­ly led BeiGene to list in New York rather than clos­er to home.

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