China’s biggest privately owned vaccine group AIM Vaccine enlisted legal advice from Sullivan & Cromwell (S&C) and Jingtian & Gongcheng for its debut on the HKEX.
The listing raised HKD156 million (USD19.87 million), but its 9.7 million public shares only occupied 0.8% of the whole equity, a thin market with less active buy-side or sell-side may lead to price volatility.
The company’s prospectus shows that in 2021, excluding COVID-19 vaccines, AIM Vaccine had 7.4% of the domestic market, ranking second across the country, while its sole competitor, the state-owned Sinopharm, had accounted for 35.5%.
AIM Vaccine’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine are in the final stages of a clinical trial, with the latter having the highest demand in the world.
Sullivan & Cromwell advised on Hong Kong and US law, while Jingtian & Gongcheng acted as PRC counsel.
Joint sponsors, Goldman Sachs, CICC, China Securities Corporate Finance Company, Macquarie Capital, and other underwriters were advised by Latham & Watkins on Hong Kong and US law, while JunHe acted as PRC counsel.
The Sullivan & Cromwell’s team was led by partners Ng Kay Ian and Lin Ching Yang in Hong Kong and managing partner Gwen Wong in Beijing. New York-based partner Jeffrey Hochberg supported the team on US tax matters.
Latham & Watkins’ team was led by Yeung Cheung Ying, partner and the chair of the greater China practice, and partner Zhang Daying.
JunHe’s leading partner was Tao Xudong and Niu Yuandong, with support from partner Li Zhi.
