Global investors swoop in on WuXi Biologics shares as owner trims stakes in worlds largest post-IPO disposals
- Nearly 142 million shares changed hands on Tuesday, almost triple the average daily volume last year, led by sale of stake by Biologics Holdings
- Waiting in the wings to pick up Biologics’ shares were institutional investors including JPMorgan Chase and Los Angeles-based Capital Group
WuXi Biologics (Cayman), a bellwether of China’s pharmaceutical producers, kicked off 2021 this week with a record stock price that took its gains since its 2017 initial public offer to 14-fold.
Nearly 142 million shares changed hands on Tuesday, almost triple the average daily transactions last year, led by a 2.5 per cent sell-down that formed part of the disposal programme by the company’s controlling shareholder Biologics Holdings from 73.5 per cent in 2017 to 20.6 per cent.
Waiting in the wings to pick up Biologics’ shares were institutional investors including JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and the Los Angeles-based private investment manager Capital Group, said Daiwa Capital Markets’ analyst Dennis Ip.
“Only Biologics had been selling shares and most of them were bought by international institutional investors,” Ip said. “Although [WuXi’s] share price has soared, it is still in an early development stage compared with other global peers in terms of capacity and global network.”
