NeuroVive Pharmaceutical Asia Ltd., a subsidiary of NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB (publ), a leading mitochondrial medicine company, has signed a financial advisory agreement with Yuanta Securities Co., Ltd., Taiwan’s leader in IPOs. This agreement is the first phase of a process with the objective of an IPO of NeuroVive’s subsidiary on the Taiwanese stock exchange within two to three years.
The motivation for initiating a process with the objective of an IPO in Taiwan is to increase the development rate of NeuroVive’s drug candidates in mitochondrial medicine and specific viral diseases by utilizing capital from the Asian market. An IPO would also create a secure base in Asia for the NeuroVive group’s continued growth in this region.
Listing the subsidiary would offer the parent company the opportunity to fund parts or all of development projects using the subsidiary’s capital. The parent company could also support the subsidiary through direct assignments on various projects. Moreover, positive progress for the subsidiary could also aid the retention of a secure capital base in the parent company, firstly via future revenue streams from the subsidiary, and secondly via positive share price performance of the subsidiary creating greater value for parent company shareholders.
If this process with the objective of an IPO is completed, it will probably include one or more funding rounds before the subsidiary is listed, followed by the actual IPO. The Taiwan Stock Exchange also offers the capacity to conduct subsequent share issues effectively after an IPO is completed.
There is very substantial interest in life science enterprises in Taiwan, with strong growth in terms of total market capitalization and the number of IPOs in the sector in the last five years. There is also substantial interest from investors and the country’s government to attract foreign, and especially European, companies for listing on the Taiwanese stock exchange.
“We see several potential benefits in initiating a process to evaluate a potential IPO of NeuroVive’s subsidiary on the Taiwanese exchange, the main reason being to create a stronger capital base that can fund development projects, and thus shorten time to market,” commented NeuroVive’s CEO Mikael Brönnegård, “moreover, an IPO in Asia could attract more international investors and increase global recognition of the NeuroVive group.”
NeuroVive Pharmaceutical Asia Ltd. is a subsidiary of NeuroVive, which is 70% owned by the parent company, with the remainder held by collaboration partner Foundation Asia Pacific Ltd.