Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd has joined a consortium of institutional investors led by China’s Hillhouse Capital Group which is investing US$418 million in Nasdaq-listed Chinese biopharmaceutical company I-MAB via a private placement.
Others in the group include hedge fund managers Alyeska Investment Group and Avidity Partners, and private equity firm Perceptive Advisors, all from the US, Hong Kong-based asset management firm Lake Bleu Capital, and Singapore-based hedge fund manager Octagon Capital Advisors.
I-MAB, which is based in Shanghai, plans to use the infusion of capital to fund its ongoing and planned research and clinical programmes globally, and to develop its capabilities to commercialise drugs in China, GIC says in a statement on September 5.
According to Choo Yong Cheen, GIC’s chief investment officer of private equity, the investment represents “strengthening of our partnership with I-MAB”.
“As a long-term investor, we have been supporting the growth of the company from a discovery-focused start-up, through its initial public offering, and towards becoming a global biopharma,” he says in the statement.
This is the wealth fund’s second healthcare-related investment since October 2019, when it was part of a consortium that invested a total $100 million in Philippines-based Metro Pacific Hospital Holding.
GIC doesn’t publicly disclose its assets data. According to the Sovereign Wealth Centre, the fund had around $453 billion of assets under management as of March 2020.
