APAC CRO Novotech Mulls IPO after $255 Million Round

Asia-Pacific contract research organization (CRO) Novotech Health Holdings is mulling an IPO in the US or Hong Kong after it raised $255 million in a financing round that valued the firm at $3 billion, reported Bloomberg Wednesday. 

Novotech’s new plans come after the firm cancelled a planned September IPO that would have seen it raise $700 million on the Hong Kong stock exchange, due to volatile market conditions. 

Novotech Holdings operates integrated labs and Phase 1 facilities and provides services for drug and clinical development. It was formed from a 2020 merger between Novotech in Singapore and Australia and PPC in mainland China. 

In addition to its $255 million financing round, Novotech also confirmed a $505 million debt refinancing. The fundraising brought in multiple new investors and saw participation from all existing shareholders. Novotech added that TPG, a private equity firm, remains its controlling stockholder. 

TPG went public on the Nasdaq last week, raising over $1 billion. The public float valued the company at over $9.5 billion. 

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Novotech to Use Proceeds for Expansion and Growth

Proceeds from the fundraising will help Novotech pursue M&As, expand into other regions and boost data, AI and tech-related offerings. 

“We are grateful for the support and recognition we received from multiple global investors that participated in the private placement transaction,” said Novotech CEO John Moller. “In addition, we are very pleased to receive continued endorsement from our existing investors. We look forward to accelerating our growth by pursuing various strategic M&A and tech enablement initiatives and seek to better serve our biotech and pharmaceutical clients and support the clinical research industry in the development of a wide spectrum of therapeutic areas.”

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Joy Lin

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