I-MAB Biopharma Co., a Chinese drug developer, launched what is set to be the first U.S. initial public offering (IPO) by a Chinese biotech company in more than two years.

I-Mab started taking orders Monday for the IPO, which could raise as much as US$111 million — down from the US$200 million people familiar with the matter said last year.

If the deal goes through, it will be the first U.S. listing by a Chinese biotech company since Zai Lab Ltd.’s US$173 million offering in 2017.

Since 2004, only five biotech firms from the Chinese mainland have completed IPOs in the United States. Many of them have decided to go for Hong Kong instead, after the city’s stock exchange amended its listing rules in April 2018 to allow firms from the industry with no revenue to list there.

I-Mab had initially considered Hong Kong before switching to the United States, people familiar with the matter have said.

Since the rule change by the Hong Kong stock exchange, 17 biotech companies from the mainland have listed in Hong Kong, raising a combined US$5.12 billion. And four more have already filed for IPOs there, with others in the pipeline. In the United States, 47 firms from the sector raised some US$5.86 billion in initial offerings last year alone.

I-Mab — along with Californian firm Velocity Financial LLC — will be the first American IPO of the year after a dismal 2019 for listings by Chinese companies there. The 33 that completed initial share sales last year have dropped by an average 21 percent, compared with a more than 17 percent gain for all U.S. listings. (SD-Agencies)