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SEOUL, Nov 27 (Reuters) - South Korean drug company SK
Bioscience aims to seek a domestic stock market listing in the
first half of next year, it said on Friday.
The plan follows successful initial public offerings (IPOs)
by its affiliate SK Biopharmaceuticals and other
companies, such as Kakao Games, which attracted huge
interest from Korean retail investors seeking higher returns in
the face of near-zero interest rates.
SK Bioscience, which is 98% owned by SK Chemical
, said its board has approved the potential IPO and
it has hired NH Investment & Securities as lead
manager.
The company said the share sale will enable it to respond to
the rapidly changing environment, such as the spread of
COVID-19, and enhance shareholder value through continued
investment and technological innovation.
SK Bioscience this week received regulatory approval to
begin human clinical trials of its COVID-19 experimental
vaccine, having agreed in July to manufacture AstraZeneca’s
experimental vaccine to help the British company build
global supplies.
The agreement was followed by another deal to manufacture a
component of U.S. drug developer Novavax Inc's
experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
(Reporting by Sangmi Cha and Hyunjoo Jin
Editing by Shri Navaratnam and David Goodman)