SHANGHAI-LISTED medical tech platform WuXi AppTec Co. has launched a Hong Kong listing of up to US$1.06 billion, braving weak markets and testing investor sentiment after a string of badly performing initial public offerings (IPOs).

WuXi AppTec’s listing comes after other companies have had to drastically scale back their funding ambitions because of jittery markets.

Others still have put off their IPO plans as they wait out the market uncertainty.

That makes WuXi AppTec’s hopes of raising between US$954 million and US$1.06 billion especially ambitious. The company is selling 116.47 million shares at a price range of HK$64.1 to HK$71.5 (US$8.19-US$9.13), a discount of between 19 percent and 27 percent to its closing price of 78.36 yuan (US$11.27) Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the deal.

The firm could raise up to US$1.2 billion if an over-allotment option, is exercised.

Hong Kong is on track to become the world’s top IPO center by volume this year, with US$33.2 billion raised so far, Refinitiv data show.

Shanghai-based WuXi AppTec describes itself as the largest global pharmaceutical research and development services platform in Asia by revenue, providing research and manufacturing services and testing services for medical devices.

The company had revenues of 4.41 billion yuan in the first half of this year, up from 3.67 billion yuan in the same period last year, according to its prospectus.

The firm’s profits jumped 67 percent year on year to 1.3 billion yuan in the first half of 2018.

WuXi AppTec intends to use the IPO proceeds to expand its capacity across all business units globally, invest in seven China projects such as a Chengdu research and development campus and set up a bioanalytical laboratory in San Diego, California.

It also intends to fund the acquisition of contract research organization companies.

The deal is expected to be priced Dec. 6 and list Dec. 13, according to one of the sources. Goldman Sachs, Huatai Financial and Morgan Stanley are sponsoring the IPO.

WuXi AppTec, which previously traded on the New York Stock Exchange, was taken private in 2015 in a US$3.3 billion deal by founder Ge Li and a group of investors including Ally Bridge Group and Hillhouse Capital. The company raised 2.25 billion yuan in its initial public offering in Shanghai earlier this year. (SD-Agencies)