Specialist tech player poised to go public

Quantum Pharm has passed its listing hearing and is expected to be the first specialist technology firm to go public in Hong Kong under Chapter 18C, the city's new rules for pre-commercial tech firms.

Also known as XtalPi, the Shenzhen-headquartered company provides quantum physics-based and artificial intelligence-powered drug and material science research and development solutions and services.

It was previously reported to seek to raise about US$200 million (HK$1.56 billion) from the initial public offering.

Quantum Pharm plans to use the proceeds to enhance its capability in research and development and commercialization, with the others as working capital and for general corporate purposes.

The company saw its net loss widen by about 32 percent year-on-year to 1.9 billion yuan (HK$2.04 billion) last year, while the revenue grew 31 percent to 174 million yuan only over the same period.

The clients of Quantum Pharm include 16 of the top 20 global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies ranked by revenue in 2022 according to Frost & Sullivan.

It is also backed by Tencent (0700), Google and Sequoia.

Only two firms have applied for IPOs through 18C after the city lowered the revenue threshold for specialist technology firms last March.

In other news, Chinese marketing service provider Qunabox (0917) closed at a day high of HK$35 apiece on its debut yesterday, up by 40 percent from the offer price of HK$25.

EDA (2505), spun off from China Lesso (2128), saw its prices in the gray market jump as much as 65 percent from its offer price of HK$2.28 apiece, before ending at HK$2.98, data from Phillip Securities showed.