We will become the first corporations to transfer list on KOSPI next year.
Park Soon-jae, head of Alteogen, said this at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting held on the morning of the 8th at Daejeon Convention Center in Yuseong District, Daejeon. Alteogen, the No. 1 corporations by market aggregates on KOSDAQ, decided that day to transfer list on KOSPI.
Alteogen revealed a plan in Aug. to transfer list on KOSPI and in Sept. selected Korea Investment & Securities as the lead manager for the transfer listing. The company plans to soon submit a preliminary KOSPI listing review application to the Korea Exchange (KRX). The preliminary review usually takes about three months. After that, it will coordinate the KOSPI listing schedule with relevant institutions. The company plans to enable stock transaction on the KOSPI market within next year.
The key to a KOSPI transfer listing is passing the Korea Exchange (KRX) review. Park said, "As the first for a KOSPI transfer listing next year, the review will be strict and we will have to make efforts." Park added, "Results also matter," and "There must be a basis that we can generate this level of operating profit." Park also said, "The exchange sometimes recommends creating internal management systems and operating them for about six months."
Alteogen's market capitalization is about 24.9 trillion won. Once the transfer listing is completed, the market sees a possibility that Alteogen will enter around No. 28 in KOSPI market cap. Alteogen shareholders expect that the transfer to KOSPI could expand participation by foreigners and institutions.
Meanwhile, Alteogen has the "ALT-B4" technology that converts anticancer drugs from an intravenous injection to a subcutaneous injection formulation. It breaks down the hyaluronic acid layer in subcutaneous tissue to allow the drug to be absorbed quickly. Alteogen's technology has been applied to Merck's anticancer drug Keytruda.
However, sales of the subcutaneous Keytruda formulation were recently halted in Germany. This is because a preliminary injunction to ban sales filed by Halozyme Therapeutics (Halozyme) of the United States, considered a competitor to Alteogen, was granted by the Munich District Court in Germany.
Jeon Tae-yeon, a vice president at Alteogen, said about this, "We are not worried." The company said, "This matter is a legal dispute between our partner Merck and Halozyme," and "We judge that preliminary injunctions (banning sales) will not occur in succession in major European countries."
Kim Seon-a, an analyst at Hana Securities, said, "The sales affected by this injunction order account for only 2% of Keytruda's total sales." Keytruda is an immuno-oncology drug that Merck launched in 2014 and posted sales of $29.5 billion (41 trillion won) last year.