Fangda Partners, Wilson Sonsini, Maples Group, Davis Polk and Jingtian & Gongcheng advised Chinese medical research group WuXi XDC on a spin-off listing from Hong Kong-listed WuXi Biologics.
XDC raised HKD3.68 billion (USD471 million) from the sale of 178 million shares at HKD20.6 apiece, making it the third-largest IPO on the HKEX this year.
Fangda provided Hong Kong and PRC law advice to XDC, and acted as Hong Kong and US counsel to controlling shareholder WuXi Biologics. Its team included Hong Kong leading partners Colin Law and Arman Lie, as well as mainland leading partners Jeffrey Ding, Diana Li, Zhang Hao and Wei Jianbo.
Wilson Sonsini’s leading partners, Chen Weiheng, Winfield Lau and Myra Sutanto Shen, advised XDC on US law, and acted for another controlling shareholder, WuXi AppTec, as Hong Kong and US counsel.
Maples Group acted on US law and Cayman Islands law to XDC.
Davis Polk’s leading partners, Chu Yang and Steve Wang, advised joint sponsors Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan on Hong Kong law and US law, while Jingtian & Gongcheng advised on PRC law.
The seven cornerstone investors, including UBS Asset Management, HongShan Funds and Lake Bleu Funds, have subscribed to 63.83% of the shares offered in the issue.
The proceeds will be used to establish an additional facility in Wuxi by the end of the year and a proposed manufacturing base in Singapore, said XDC.
The prospectus shows that, in terms of revenue, XDC became the world’s second-largest contract research, development and manufacturing organisation in 2022, with a primary focus on anticancer drugs and the broader bioconjugate market. The company’s revenue in 2022 was RMB990 million, a substantial year-on-year increase of 218%.
