This article was published on July 1, 2025, at 4:13 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
Biotech G2GBIO, which aims to go public on the KOSDAQ market with a valuation of up to 311 billion won, recorded a corporate value of 443 billion won in the over-the-counter market. The excitement around investing in newly listed bio stocks related to obesity treatments has also led to the over-the-counter stock prices significantly exceeding the upper end of the hoped offering price range.
According to the financial investment industry on the 1st, G2GBIO was traded at 82,500 won per share on the previous day in the Securities Plus emergency market. Having recorded 81,000 won per share on the 27th of last month, it rose by 1.85% in just one trading day, with some shareholders suggesting a selling price of 90,000 won per share for their holdings.
The transaction volume is also observed to be considerable. According to the Korea Securities Depository's non-listed market transaction estimation, 38,500 shares were traded the previous day via account substitution.
On the 16th of last month, G2GBIO submitted a securities report to the Financial Supervisory Service, officially initiating the public offering process for the KOSDAQ market. Typically, ahead of an IPO, many wait to trade on the market for reasons such as taxes, but as buy orders continued to come in at high prices, it is estimated that holders are also starting to sell.
The per-share transaction price of G2GBIO in the over-the-counter market exceeds the range the company suggested for its hoped offering price by at least 42 percent, according to the leading underwriter, Mirae Asset Securities. G2GBIO has proposed a lower limit of 48,000 won and an upper limit of 58,000 won for the hoped offering price range.
Considering that G2GBIO plans to raise 900,000 new shares for a total of 5,369,285 shares for listing, the estimated market capitalization after listing at the upper end of the hoped offering price range is 311.4 billion won. If the transaction prices in the over-the-counter market are applied in the same way, the market capitalization post-listing exceeds 440 billion won.
Analysis suggests that the expectation surrounding the development of obesity treatments is behind the high over-the-counter premium. The company currently has secured a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in its pipeline, which is the number one obesity treatment, Wegovy, and it is drawing attention as an obesity treatment theme stock gaining global popularity.
Particularly, the company's drug delivery platform technology, 'InnoLAMP', is highlighted as crucial. As Wegovy dominates the obesity treatment market with its 'once-a-week injection' convenience, the application of InnoLAMP technology enables the development of an obesity treatment that can be administered once a month with the same ingredients as Wegovy.
This year, pharmaceutical and biotech companies that entered the KOSDAQ market have shown robust stock price trends post-listing, which has also been a positive factor. Only corporations with verified technology and business potential have passed the IPO threshold, with eight out of eleven pharmaceutical and biotech companies that entered the KOSDAQ market in the first half of this year seeing their stock prices exceed the offering prices.
A source in the VC industry noted, "Due to strengthened listing review criteria, it can be viewed that biotech ventures recognized their technological and business capabilities merely by crossing the exchange threshold," adding, "G2GBIO also signed a long-term injection formulation development contract with global pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim in January."