Stock Price Soars 262% after IPO
SK Bioscience, a company that develops vaccines and produces biopharmaceuticals on a contract basis, has been found to be the best-performing IPO in the world in 2021.
According to a report by Bloomberg, SK Bioscience is the top gainer among the initial public offerings that raised more than $1 billion this year.
SK Bioscience’s shares are up about 262 percent since they started trading in Seoul in the first quarter, the highest gain among the 94 major offerings since January, according to the report. SK Bioscience raised $1.3 billion through the IPO.
Among Korean companies listed in 2021, five companies raised more than US$1 billion through IPOs.
The top 10 best-performing IPO included three more Korean companies -- Kakao Pay (5th, 124 percent), Kakao Bank (7th, 68 percent), and SK IE Technology (9th, 59 percent).
Affirm Holdings (126 percent), a fintech company listed on the U.S. stock market, ranked fourth, while Indian food delivery company Zomato, which is listed on the Indian stock market, stood sixth (82 percent). Eighth place was taken by Ryan Specialty Group (61 percent), an insurance service company listed on the U.S. stock market.
Meanwhile, SK Bioscience has obtained approval from five countries for phase 3 clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine GBP510.
The International Vaccine Research Institute (IVI), which is cooperating with SK Bioscience in global phase 3 clinical trials of the vaccine, has obtained approval from Vietnam, Ukraine, Thailand, the Philippines, and New Zealand. In Korea, its third phase clinical trial was approved in August. SK Bioscience plans to obtain emergency use authorization in the first half of next year when phase 3 clinical trial data is secured.