Legend Biotech eyes worst day after launching $300 mln equity offering

Genscript Biotech

15/12/2021 15:45

** U.S.-listed shares of Legend Biotech  LEGN.O  down 18.0%
at $39.78, and on track for their biggest one-day pct drop ever,
as co seeks equity raise
    ** After the bell Tues, cell therapy unit of Hong
Kong-listed Genscript Biotech  1548.HK  announced offering of
$300 mln American Depositary shares (ADSs)  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw6zMDXda
    ** LEGN weakness comes as shares in Chinese healthcare and
tech firms tumble on Weds on report U.S. will place more
investment and export blacklists on certain firms  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2T008W
    ** U.S.-listed shares of Chinese drug developers Beigene Ltd
 BGNE.O  down 15%, I-Mab  IMAB.O  off ~13% and Zai Lab  ZLAB.O 
dropping 20% on the session
    ** On Mon, LEGN presented data at annual American Society of
Hematology (ASH) meeting that showed its cancer drug cilta-cel
demonstrated 98% overall response rate, and 2-year
progression-free survival and overall survival rates were 61%
and 74%, respectively, in early-stage study  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw90kTXDa
    ** LEGN collaborating with Johnson & Johnson  JNJ.N 
subsidiary Janssen Biotech for development of cilta-cel
    ** Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Jefferies, Piper Sandler and
Barclays leading LEGN's offering, slated to price Weds after
market close
    ** Co has ~144.63 mln shares outstanding for ~$7 bln market
cap as of stock's last close, per Refinitiv data
    ** With move on Weds, shares up ~41% YTD
    ** This would be LEGN's first public equity raise since its
June 2020 Nasdaq IPO, which priced at $23/sh

 (Reporting by Lance Tupper and Anisha Sircar
Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-332-219-1430
Anisha.Sircar@thomsonreuters.com))