2.71 trillion won earmarked for PolyPeptide Group acquisition, 294.8 billion won for Songdo campus expansion

Peptide modality added; production network to span US, Europe and India

New shares set to list Nov. 30 after rights offering and public subscription

Samsung Biologics' Factory 4. [Samsung Biologics]
Samsung Biologics' Factory 4. [Samsung Biologics]

Samsung Biologics will raise 3 trillion won ($2.17 billion) through a rights offering to fund its acquisition of global peptide contract development and manufacturing organization PolyPeptide Group and expand its second bio campus in Incheon's Songdo district.

The company disclosed Friday that its board had approved a rights offering of up to 3 trillion won in total, with any unsubscribed shares to be offered to the general public.

Of the proceeds, 2.71 trillion won will go toward the PolyPeptide Group acquisition. Samsung Biologics announced in July that it would acquire PolyPeptide Group for 1.46 billion Swiss francs — the largest merger and acquisition deal in South Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industry. The remaining 294.8 billion won will fund additional production facilities at the second bio campus in Songdo.

Samsung Biologics plans to use the capital raise to accelerate what it calls a "three-pillar expansion" strategy covering production capacity, portfolio breadth and geographic reach. The company aims to complete the PolyPeptide Group acquisition by year-end, adding peptides — a high-growth modality — to its existing lineup of antibody drugs, messenger RNA and antibody-drug conjugates. It also intends to secure PolyPeptide Group's manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States and India to complete a global production network.

On the capacity front, Samsung Biologics plans to build Factories 6 through 8 — each with 180,000-liter capacity — in sequence at the second bio campus in Songdo, following Factory 5, which was completed last year. The additions would bring total antibody drug production capacity to 1.385 million liters.

The offering will issue a total of 2.27 million new shares, representing 4.904 percent of existing shares outstanding. The planned issue price is 1.322 million won per share, reflecting a 15 percent discount.

Under the Capital Markets Act, 20 percent of the new shares will be allocated first to the employee stock ownership association, with the remainder distributed to existing shareholders in proportion to their holdings. Because the largest shareholder and related parties hold a combined 74.3 percent stake, the burden on minority shareholders is limited. Shareholders who do not wish to subscribe may sell their subscription rights certificates, and the joint lead managers have agreed to underwrite any remaining unsubscribed shares in full, ensuring the offering is fully funded.

Under the current schedule, the securities registration statement takes effect Sept. 30, followed by the new share allotment record date on Oct. 6. Existing shareholder subscriptions run Nov. 9-10, and the general public offering runs Nov. 12-13. New shares are scheduled to list Nov. 30.

Samsung Biologics Chief Executive John Rim said the company decided to proceed with the capital raise "to lay the investment foundation needed to leap forward as a global top-tier CDMO," adding that it would "push ahead without disruption on the three-pillar expansion — including the PolyPeptide Group acquisition and the second campus scale-up — to enhance corporate value."


silverpaper@heraldcorp.com