Kirkland Advises on CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Hong Kong IPO

Kirkland & Ellis represented the joint sponsors and underwriters on the global offering and listing of CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. (HKSE: 1228), a rare disease-focused biopharmaceutical company committed to the research, development and commercialization of biotech therapies, on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on December 10, 2021. CANbridge is the first "rare-disease stock" listed in Hong Kong.

Founded in 2012, CANbridge had developed a comprehensive pipeline of 13 drug assets with significant market potential. CANbridge’s products and product candidates target some of the most prevalent rare diseases and rare oncology indications, including but not limited to glioblastoma and mucopolysaccharidosis type ll. 

CANbridge’s IPO, which raised approximately $88 million, received endorsements from leading investors for its pre-IPO investment rounds, including WuXi PharmaTech Healthcare Fund I L.P., WuXi AppTec, Qiming Venture, RA Capital, Blackwell Partners, Hudson Bay, General Atlantic and 3W Global Fund. Cornerstones investors included RA Capital, Hudson Bay, Janus Investors, General Atlantic and WuXi Biologics. Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Haitong International Securities, China Merchants Securities, BOCI Asia and Futu Securities were the joint sponsors and underwriters. 

Read more in CANbridge’s listing document

The Kirkland team was led by capital markets partner Mengyu Lu, with support from capital markets partner Samantha Peng.