Samsung Biologics plans to raise 3 trillion won ($2.18 billion) through a share sale to bankroll its takeover of Swiss firm PolyPeptide Group and broaden its production footprint in Incheon.
The company’s board greenlit the issuance of 2.27 million new shares Friday, according to a regulatory filing with the Financial Supervisory Service. Existing shareholders get first dibs, with leftover shares offered to the public.
Each share carries an expected price tag of 1.32 million won. The new stock equals roughly 4.9 percent of current outstanding shares.
The capital injection targets the company’s ambition to become a top-tier contract development and manufacturing organization, or CDMO. A company spokesperson said the funds will cover the PolyPeptide acquisition along with expansion of its second bio campus in Songdo, Incheon.
Around 2.71 trillion won goes toward the Swiss acquisition. The remaining 294.8 billion won finances the Songdo plant buildout.
The PolyPeptide deal, announced last month, marks Samsung Biologics’ entry into the fast-expanding market for GLP-1 treatments aimed at obesity and diabetes. Valued at 1.46 billion Swiss francs ($1.80 billion), the acquisition stands as the largest transaction ever in Korea’s pharma and biotech sector.
Peptides will join a portfolio that already spans antibody drugs, messenger RNA, and antibody-drug conjugates. PolyPeptide’s manufacturing sites across Europe, the United States, and India give Samsung Biologics a wider global network.
Meanwhile, the Songdo campus will house four new 180,000-liter plants, pushing antibody drug capacity to 1.385 million liters.
A company official noted that the rights offering provides investment capital and financial flexibility as competition intensifies across the global CDMO landscape. The official also pointed to limited dilution, given the new shares represent about 5 percent of existing stock.
Samsung Biologics expects to close the acquisition by year’s end once the share sale completes.
