April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Celltrion, a Korean biosimilar maker and the most valuable stock on the secondary KOSDAQ, may shift to the benchmark KOSPI in January at the earliest as its stellar performance and shareholder support have boosted its confidence, according to sources on Nov. 10.

NH Investment & Securities, the lead manager for Celltrion’s transfer to KOSPI, plans to submit an application for relisting with the country’s bourse operator Korea Exchange by end-November, three months earlier than initially expected. 

“The relisting plans are on the fast track owing to a demand from shareholders … . It seems that Celltrion has no reason to hesitate as its key financials and conditions already satisfy KOSPI’s listing requirements,” a source said.

On Sept. 29, Celltrion plans to relist were approved at an extraordinary general meeting as shareholders asserted it would help protect investors from short sellers.

Shares of Celltrion are up more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year thanks to robust global sales of its biosimilar products -- Remsima, its version of Johnson & Johnson’s top-selling drug Remicade, and Truxima, copycat of Roche’s Rituxan.

The Incheon-based company said on Nov. 8 it posted an operating income of 140 billion won (US$125.80 million) in the third quarter, up 89.3 percent on-year.

Sales also jumped 37.9 percent on-year to 232 billion won, with net profit almost doubling to 114 billion won.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)