Sanigen
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jack.baek@nhqv.com -- Ed.
Sanigen provides A-to-Z solutions for food safety. Amid the government’s strengthening of food safety regulations, HACCP certification is to become increasingly important. Accordingly, interest should grow in the company, which boasts PCR and NCS technologies for food safety analysis.
Total food safety solutions provider
Founded in 2005, Sanigen provides A-to-Z solutions for food safety. It offers food safety testing and food microbial genomic analysis services based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NCS) technologies. The largest shareholder is CEO JW Park, who served as a food research team leader at CJCJ. His post-IPO stake is estimated at 32.8%, and should come to 30.2% upon CB conversion. Rated A by two credit rating agencies (SCI Information Service and KoDATA), Sanigen was approved in July to go public on the Kosdaq.
Sanigen’s PCR- and NGS-based food safety testing services are highly efficient, offering shorter processing times and greater accuracy versus the culture medium-based method that was widely used in the past. That said, considering the cost required to introduce PCR analysis equipment, the service is projected to be used more by large companies than by SMEs. With interest in food safety and certification growing in line with government organizations (eg, MFDS)’s strengthening of regulations, we anticipate solid growth visibility for Sanigen both at home and abroad.
Food safety testing market to grow in line with strengthening of food safety regulations
The food safety testing market is projected to grow further going forward. Although sales of Sanigen’s main products—Genelix (PCR) and GeNext (NGS)—remain modest at the moment, we expect to see steep sales growth, backed by rising demand both at home and abroad and anticipated downstream market growth. The firm plans to go public through a SPAC merger. Its merger with KB SPAC No.23 is scheduled for Nov 3.