By Jason Chau
Two Chinese biotechnology companies soared in their Hong Kong trading debuts, adding to a wave of successful initial public offerings in the city amid bullish market sentiment towards China's technology sector.
Metis TechBio led the gains, with shares almost tripling from their offering price, before pulling back in early trade on Wednesday. Shares were last trading 140% higher.
The Beijing-based company raised 2.11 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to $269.5 million, in its offering after issuing 201.2 million shares at HK$10.50 each.
Metis, which was founded in 2020, has become one of China's leading AI drug formulation and development companies.
The firm says it has built the industry's first, largest and most diverse library of lipids, a vital organic compound.
Meanwhile, shares of Impact Therapeutics also soared in its Wednesday debut and were last trading 114% higher from its offering price.
The company, based in the city of Nanjing, raised 843.7 million Hong Kong dollars in its IPO from selling 42.0 million shares at HK$20.10 each.
Founded in 2009, the biotechnology firm focuses on developing cutting-edge anti-cancer treatments that address 'undruggable' targets when using conventional cancer therapies. It has commercialized one product and has 11 other self-developed drug candidates in the pipeline.
The strong market reaction to the two listings highlights sustained investor optimism surrounding China's rapidly advancing biotechnology industry, which has achieved significant technological breakthroughs in recent years and received strong policy backing from Beijing as a strategic priority sector.
The positive market sentiment has fueled Hong Kong's red-hot IPO market in recent months, led by a string of blockbuster technology listings such as the debuts of AI-driven drugmaker InSilico Medicine and Chinese AI champions Zhipu and MiniMax.
Write to Jason Chau at jason.chau@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 12, 2026 23:20 ET (03:20 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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