By Yoon Sung-won
Samsung plans to list its bio affiliate, Samsung BioEpis, on the U.S. NASDAQ.
Once the listing procedure is completed, Samsung BioEpis will be the first affiliate of the nation’s top business group to be listed in the United States.
“We have mulled over an initial public offering on the NASDAQ to secure enough funds for our ongoing research and development projects in the bio-similar sector,” said an official at Samsung BioEpis, Monday. “We are in the initial stage of the listing procedure and are working to learn more about the U.S. stock market.”
A bio-similar refers to duplicates of biomedicines that are developed and produced once the patent term of the original biomedicine expires.
Expectations are that the Samsung affiliate needs to secure about 1.5 trillion won to develop bio products. Its market cap will reach 8 trillion won on the U.S. stock market, according to industry sources.
Expectations are that Samsung will foster the bio business as one of its new growth engines, alongside the semiconductor sector.
In 2010, Samsung picked five new businesses ― biomedicine, medical equipment, car batteries, solar cells and light-emitting diodes ― as next-generation revenue producers.
Established in 2012, Samsung BioEpis has been considered one of the leading bio-similar firms here, following market leader Celtrion.
Samsung BioEpis and Samsung BioLogics are two bio-similar affiliates of Samsung Group.
Samsung BioLogics holds 90.3 percent of Samsung BioEpis and makes products once the latter develops bio-similar medicines.
Cheil Industries and Samsung Electronics hold 46 percent of Samsung BioLogics shares each and Samsung C&T owns 5 percent.
Once the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries is completed, the merged enterprise will be the largest shareholder of Samsung BioLogics with 51 percent. This means the corporate value of Samsung C&T will also rise once Samsung BioEpis is listed on the NASDAQ.