Celltrion Holdings eyes Nasdaq listing, founder says

Celltrion Holdings, the holdings company of drugmaker Celltrion, is aiming for a Nasdaq listing as early as this year, said Seo Jung-jin, its founder and chairman.

Celltrion founder and chairman, Seo Jung-jin, speaks during the Future Leaders' Camp event hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries on Sunday in Gangneung, Gangwon. [FKI]

Celltrion Holdings, the holdings company of drugmaker Celltrion, is aiming for a Nasdaq listing as early as this year, said Seo Jung-jin, its founder and chairman.

The latest comment came on Sunday during the Future Leaders Camp event hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) in Gangneung, Gangwon, where Seo appeared on stage for a talk session.

“I have ordered the relevant divisions to list Celltrion Holdings on the Nasdaq as early as the end of the year, and early next year at the latest,” said the chairman.

A Celltrion spokesperson, however, said that nothing has been decided yet, “as various options for the initial public offering (IPO) are being considered, and a Nasdaq listing is one of them.”

Seo announced the previous week that Celltrion Holdings, in which the chairman has a 98.13 percent stake, will go public, during the biosimilar developer’s presentation session at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference held in San Francisco.

Celltrion Chairman and founder Seo Jung-jin, center, speaks during the 42nd J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday at the main Grand Ballroom in the Westin St. Francis Hotel, with his son and Celltrion co-CEO Seo Jin-seok, left, on stage. [CELLTRION]

Celltrion Holdings holds 21.83 percent of Celltrion as of January as the largest shareholder of the company, which recently wrapped up a merger with Celltrion Healthcare. Celltrion plans to proceed with another merger with Celltrion Pharma this year.

Seo further declared that Celltrion will leverage the 5 trillion won ($3.7 billion) that the IPO of Celltrion Holdings is estimated to bring in and raise additional funding from other investors to establish a massive 100 trillion won health care fund.

While Celltrion Holdings is not likely to face troubles with meeting the minimum financial requirements for listing on Nasdaq, it remains to be seen whether the company would be able to have enough of a corporate valuation to attract 5 trillion won.

Celltrion said that it expects the sales to reach 11 billion won with an operating margin of 30 percent by 2030, the target year the company aims to have 22 drug products available in the market.

Following the local reports on Tuesday, Celltrion had traded strong early in the morning yet closed down 0.32 percent from the previous trading day at 187,500 won. Celltrion Pharm slipped 1.23 percent to 104,800 won.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]