SSY wins huge fever medicine order

KWG in $466m placement

KWG (1813) will issue new shares to raise about HK$466.98 million of net proceeds for refinancing existing debts and general corporate purposes. The shares will be traded at HK$2.01 apiece, a discount of about 15 percent on last Friday's closing price. After the changes, the Guangzhou-based private developer will have its share capital expanded by about 6.87 percent.

Xi'an centers fetch 5b yuan

China South City (1668) sold its logistic and trade centers in Xi'an to the state-backed Shenzhen Infrastructure Investment for 5 billion yuan (HK$5.58 billion). After the disposal, the buyer will hold 69.35 percent of the controllership of the target property while China South City's stake will be reduced to 30.65 percent. The target property's appraised value was 2.21 billion yuan before the deal.

Extradition battle looms

Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in court in the Bahamas today to reverse his decision to contest extradition to the United States, where he faces fraud charges, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The 30-year-old cryptocurrency mogul was indicted in federal court in Manhattan last Tuesday and accused of engaging in a scheme to defraud FTX customers by using billions of dollars in stolen deposits to pay for expenses and debts and to make investments for his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research.

Staff reporter

SSY (2005) and its subsidiary have won a huge order from a major pharmaceutical firm in China to manufacture ibuprofen tablets and pediatric paracetamol solutions amid an escalating Covid outbreak in the mainland.

The company said the annual volume would be between one and 2.5 billion tablets and 65 million bags respectively.

Ibuprofen and paracetamol were named as drugs for Covid patients isolating at home with fever by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism under the State Council, and pharmacies across China are running out of these drugs amid panic-buying.

Meanwhile, China National Pharmaceutical Group clarified that it is not selling Pfizer's Paxlovid - an oral antiviral medication - in the mainland, which has been steeply priced at 2,980 yuan (HK$3,327) per box on an online platform.

The company said it has no relationship with China Meheco, a state-run pharmaceutical company which imports and distributes Paxlovid in the mainland market.

Fosun Pharma (2196) was earlier awarded the patent license to produce generic Paxlovid, but is not allowed by to sell the drugs in the mainland.

In other news, China's drug maker JW Therapeutics (2126) will offer 41,667 share options at an exercise price of HK$4.83 apiece - a 13.6 percent premium from its closing price of HK$4.25 last Friday. Each option entitle the grantee of the option to subscribe for one share of the company at the exercise price.

The company has seen its share price decline over 68 percent since the beginning of this year.