Kirkland Represents Duality Biotherapeutics, Inc. on Hong Kong IPO

Kirkland & Ellis advised Duality Biotherapeutics, Inc. (HKEx: 9606) on its global offering and listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, Jefferies Hong Kong Limited and CLSA Limited acted as sponsor-overall coordinators.

The IPO raised approximately HK$1.64 billion prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option, making it the largest Chapter 18A offering since 2022.

Duality a key player in the global antibody-drug conjugate (“ADC”) landscape, dedicated to the development of innovative therapeutics in this fast-growing drug modality to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases, and beyond. Leveraging its technology platforms and a differentiated, clinically advanced pipeline, Duality aims to deliver transformative treatments that improve patient outcomes.

Duality’s Hong Kong IPO has received strong market support. Despite recent market volatility, the offering attracted investments from numerous top-tier international long-only funds and leading domestic public funds. Duality secured US$65 million from 11 high-quality cornerstone investors, including BioNTech SE, LAV, Lake Bleu, TrueMed, Fullgoal, E Fund, China Universal, Panjing Harbourview, MY Asian Opportunities, Emerging Markets Healthcare/Worldwide Healthcare and Suzhou Suchuang Buomedical Health Venture Capital. In addition, the Hong Kong public offering tranche was oversubscribed by approximately 115 times, while the international offering tranche was approximately 13.5 times oversubscribed – the highest level of demand for the international offering tranche of a Chapter 18A biotech IPO since 2022.

The Kirkland team included capital markets lawyers Mengyu Lu, Brian Ho, Samantha Peng, George Zheng, Jing Du and Rock Liu; tax lawyers Anne Kim, Jessica Yeh, David Kung, Pamela Ho and Maggie Carr; and investment funds lawyer Phil Vincent Giglio.