Chipscreen upsizes IPO as investors flock to China's STAR Market

Shenzhen Chipscreen Biosciences has upsized its IPO after the shares reserved for individuals were almost 3,000 times oversubscribed. The Chinese drug developer now expects to raise RMB 1 billion ($145 million), 27% more than it initially aimed to generate through the listing. 

Reuters broke down the figures presented by Chipscreen in its latest exchange filing in preparation for its planned listing on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market. The filing revealed Chipscreen now aims to raise RMB 1 billion at a valuation of RMB 8.4 billion, giving it a share price to earnings ratio of 468 to one, comfortably the highest yet seen on the recently introduced STAR Market. 

Chipscreen was able to dial up its fundraising plans after investors flocked to the offering. Around one-fifth of the shares are reserved for individual investors. Chipscreen could have sold those shares almost 3,000 times over. 

Interest in Chipscreen rests on the potential of its pipeline of small-molecule treatments for cancer, diabetes and autoimmune and endocrine diseases. Chipscreen has already received clearance to sell HDAC inhibitor Epidaza for the treatment of non-Hodgkin and peripheral T cell lymphomas in China. It also has a slate of clinical-phase assets following the approved drug down the pipeline. 

Chipscreen has also benefited from factors outside of its control. The share prices of the first batch of companies to list on STAR Market rose by more than 100%, on average, on their first day of trading. That created a demand for IPO that outstripped supply.

"The limited supply for the second batch of listings and the overwhelming performance of the first batch have fueled investor enthusiasm," Jiang Liangqing, a money manager at Ruisen Capital Management in Beijing, told Bloomberg.