Korean vaccine maker is world's best-performing IPO in 2021: Bloomberg
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South Korean SK Bioscience Company has delivered the world's best-performing initial public offering (IPO) this year after raising $.1.3 billion, as per a report by Bloomberg.
The initial public offering is the process by which a private company can go public by sale of its stocks to the general public.
The biopharmaceutical firm, which is a local COVID-19 vaccine production partner with AstraZeneca, led a ranking dominated by listings from its home country, according to the analysis by Bloomberg.
The data compiled has also revealed that SK Bioscience's shares are up about 262% since they started trading in Seoul in the first quarter, the most among the 94 major offerings since January.
The company was the first among five Korean firms that raised more than $1 billion each through new-share offers this year, with several tech-related names also surging in their trading debuts.
SK Bioscience outperformed two major listings in Shanghai, China Three Gorges Renewables Group and Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co., which are each up more than 140 per cent.
US Affirm Holdings came fourth, followed by South Korean Kakao Pay, and India's Zomato.
The country has received more representation in the ranking than any market with several other firms from the country appearing within the 10 top performers globally for the year, including Kakao Pay Corp., KakaoBank Corp. and SK IE Technology Co.
The local media's report suggesting that SK Bioscience would start shipping 1.1 million doses in August, had led to a record high surge in the company's share at that time.
The company also got a boost from the inclusion in indexes tracked by MSCI Inc. in the same month.
But part of those stellar gains has already faded, with the stock retreating about 16% since the start of December. It is among an array of Asian healthcare shares that dropped on Tuesday, following a slump in U.S. biotech companies, as investors reacted to reports suggesting cases of the omicron variant have been relatively mild.
The healthcare firm has eight buy recommendations and no sell or holds calls among analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
