Fledgling Lotte Biologics eyes IPO within 5-7 years with facility investment in Korea

[Captured from Lotte Biologics]

South Korea’s Lotte Biologics to bulk up fast upon founding is aiming to go public within five to seven years after building a pharmaceutical factory in South Korea and acquiring a U.S. facility, the company’s chief executive Richard Lee said in an interview.

Lotte Group, the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate, registered the trademark ‘Lotte Biologics’ in May, making foray into contract development and manufacturing business for biologics.

Lotte Biologics plans to buy a Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. plant in Syracuse, New York for $160 million within this year for contract manufacturing of antibody therapeutics.

The company also intends to spend $1 billion in South Korea to build a facility that is five to six times larger than the Syracuse site, while looking for acquisition opportunities in Europe and Boston, Lee told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Lotte Biologics will focus on medicines for emerging areas like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in addition to highly sought drugs for cancer treatment, Lee said, citing companies including Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca.

The company is also open to equity investment in promising smaller companies or joint development, Lee added in the interview.

Lee also said he is setting an initial 20 percent profit goal in Lotte Biologics business and the company could file for an initial public offering in the next five to seven years, if all goes well.

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