Genome & Co. stocks up over $425 mn Debiopharm deal

[Courtesy of Genome & Co.]

Shares in South Korean biopharmaceutical company Genome & Co. soared in early trading on Monday over the news that it signed a major technology transfer deal worth about 586.4 billion won ($425 million) with Swiss pharmaceutical company Debiopharm SA.

Genome & Co. shares were trading at 11,840 won as of 9:13 a.m. on that day, up 29.97 percent from the previous day.

Before Monday’s market open, Genome & Co. announced that it had signed a contract to transfer its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) substance GENA-111 to the Swiss company. It received approximately 6.9 billion won as an upfront payment, and the total amount includes the upfront payment as well as tiered technology fees.

“This is our first technology transfer in the new targeted anticancer field,” the company‘s chief executive officer Hong Yoo-seok said, adding that the company expects to see results for subsequent pipelines in the field soon.

Shipping companies such as HMM Co. saw an upward trend in their share prices on the same day.

HMM’s stocks were trading at 19,290 won as of 9:33 a.m. on Monday, up 1,290 won (7.17 percent) from the previous trading day.

Shares in other shipping companies are also on the rise, with Heung-A Shipping Co. up 9.52 percent, STX Green Logis Ltd. 5.12 percent, Pan Ocean Co. 4.41 percent and KSS Line Ltd. 2.16 percent.

According to the shipping industry, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) hit 3,044.77 on Friday, up 341.34 points from the previous week and topped 3,000 points for the first time since August 26th, 2022. It is unusual for the index, which is an indicator of freight rates on sea routes, to surge during the off-season from March to May.

The situation in the Red Sea particularly caused delays for ships passing the Suez Canal, leading to a significant increase in shipping rates on this route as ships bound for Europe and the Americas bypassed the Cape of Good Hope.

Korea Investment & Securities Co. analyst Choi Go-woon said in a report that the recent surge in container freight rates may not be a short-term issue, noting that the SCFI rose 72 percent in just six weeks after corrections in mid-April 2024 and that the peak season effect is being reflected ahead of time, increasing the potential for further overshooting of the market situation.

Regarding HMM, Choi commented that it is a stock to watch in the transportation sector.