Singapore biotech Mirxes files for Hong Kong IPO after raising $66 million
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Mirxes co-founder Zhou Lihan says the company hopes to tap Hong Kong and China's healthcare and biotech investor base.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Claudia Chong
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SINGAPORE - Singapore-based cancer diagnostics company Mirxes has applied to Hong Kong’s stock exchange for an initial public offering (IPO), potentially becoming the first company based outside of China and Hong Kong to list under a provision that supports biotech IPOs on the bourse.
Mirxes raised US$50 million (S$66.4 million) ahead of its potential listing, the company said on Wednesday. The Series D funding values the company at around US$600 million post-money, The Business Times understands.
Mirxes’ application comes amid a push by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) to attract international listings. In the past year, HKEX has opened its first United States office in New York and relaxed rules for some pre-commercial companies.
Until recently, Mirxes was caught between listing locally or overseas.
The company was eyeing to raise between US$100 million and US$200 million.
The allure of Hong Kong, sources told BT at the time, was the potentially higher valuation of up to US$1 billion floated by bankers who thought the market could better support biotech players.
Mirxes said it filed its listing application under Chapter 18A of HKEX’s listing rules. The initiative, started in 2018, allows pre-revenue biotech companies to list in Hong Kong.
A total of 60 companies, based either in China or Hong Kong, have listed under Chapter 18A, raising HK$119.3 billion (S$20.3 billion).
Mirxes chief executive Zhou Lihan did not comment on valuations, but pointed to Hong Kong’s “more mature” ecosystem for biotech listings.
“We hope to tap the specialist healthcare and biotech investor base in Hong Kong and China,” Dr Zhou said. “The largest future market for our flagship product Gastroclear is the People’s Republic of China, which accounts for 50 per cent of all gastric cancer cases in the world. It also makes sense to tap the investor base who could both support and benefit from our growth.”
Gastroclear is a blood test used to detect gastric cancer.
Dr Zhou said the company remains open to all funding opportunities in Singapore.
Mirxes’ latest US$50 million funding round drew new international investors, including Chinese state-owned fund Beijing Fupu.
Other new backers included Japanese conglomerate Mitsui and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), in a rare pre-IPO investment. Singapore’s state-linked EDBI and NHH Venture Fund were returning investors.
The funds will be used to scale adoption of Gastroclear in South-east Asia, China and Japan. Mirxes was spun off from A*Star in 2014 to develop diagnostic tools based on microRNA detection, and employs about 400 staff today.
The company is also hoping to commercialise a blood-based colorectal cancer screening test. It is concurrently developing a single blood test for early detection of nine high-mortality cancers.
HKEX has been focusing on helping Chinese investors tap investment opportunities among international companies, and vice versa, its CEO Nicolas Aguzin said in an interview with BT.
The regulator recently introduced changes to allow mainland investors to trade directly in international stocks listed in Hong Kong.
In 2022, HKEX hosted 87 IPOs that raised US$15.1 billion. This year, it has seen 39 listings that raised US$3.3 billion.
Mirxes’ peer, Hangzhou-based cancer screening company New Horizon Health, raised US$263 million after going public in February 2021. Its shares rose as much as 200 per cent on the first day of trading, amid pandemic fever.
The stock has since slipped 68 per cent from its debut amid a broader market sell-off. It closed at HK$26.15 on Tuesday, valuing the company at HK$12 billion. THE BUSINESS TIMES
