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The listing of the pharmaceutical company Hyloris began on Monday on Euronext Brussels. The title gained up to 3.7% from the first exchanges, before coming back closer to its introductory price.
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It is not his first try … And one can imagine that it will probably not be the last. Stijn Van Rompay, co-founder and CEO of Hyloris, leads his pharmaceutical company on Euronext Brussels this Monday morning. That, at the end of a public offer which ended last week with a price fixed at 10.75 euros per share. After climbing 3.7% at the start, the title’s growth returned to around half a percent.
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Head for the stock market
Hyloris clearly benefits from the enthusiasm of investors for pharma and biotech stocks in these times of health crisis which arouse the emulation among the scientific researchers on the lookout for a vaccine putting us safe from Covid-19. In the Bel 20, UCB and Argenx are among the few stocks that have moved green since the start of this year.
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With a financial debt of 15.6 million euros at the end of 2019, higher than what was in its cash (11.2 million euros) and especially than the costs induced by the research that have exploded in recent months, one can imagine that the bankers advised the company established in Liège to privilege other sources of financing for its businesses. “The board of directors reviewed all the opportunities. The choice fell on the stock market which could provide between 50 and 70 million euros”, explains Stijn Van Rompay. “On the side of equity investors, there is a window of opportunity. We are seizing it.”
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“We opted for Euronext Brussels for the listing of Hyloris in order to better involve Belgian investors.”
Stijn Van Rompay
CEO d’Hyloris
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That of Brussels rather than the Nasdaq
It could have been the Nasdaq stock exchange on Wall Street where the carolo group Iteos plans to be rated. “We opted for Euronext Brussels to better involve Belgian investors”, explains Stijn Van Rompay. He remembers, moreover, having had “an extraordinary experience” with the Belgian stock exchange. He had already been operational director (COO) of Docpharma, a company created in the family fold. It had been listed on Euronext Brussels from September 2001 to November 2005, before being acquired by Mylan. Its action was quoted at around 10 euros. It came out at 34 euros.
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Is Hyloris’ IPO a story that stresses its CEO? “I have as much enthusiasm, said Van Rompay at the outset, as when I still had all my hair at 24. I now have more experience. As a result, I am now more able to comfortable “.
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At the time of the bell
This IPO arrives while the Covid-19 pandemic, which is also cited in the prospectus of IPO (Initial Public Offerings) as one of the main risks facing the business of the company, seems to have still not said its last word. But if “a pandemic is an extraordinary event that does not happen often”, as Stijn Van Rompay points out, it will still impose some restrictions. And in particular this Monday morning, at the time when the listing screens appeared, just after the bell struck at 9 am sharp, the first Hyloris share price.
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“The health situation as we know it today means that we have to limit the number of guests at this ceremony,” said Benoît van den Hove, manager of quotations at Euronext Brussels, on Friday. “The number of participants is limited to 25 people. They will have hydroalcoholic gel and masks. Due to the rules of distancing, only 5 people will have the privilege of climbing on the platform above which the bell is perched.”
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IPO: instructions for use
How do companies climb the steps of the Brussels Stock Exchange? “Either they contact the market managers. Or it is rather they who prospect with them, showing them the benefits they can derive from listing, explains Benoît van den Hove, of Euronext Brussels. The persons in charge of the stock exchange have in principle no requirement to admit or not a company to the quotation. Generally, this work is led by banks trying to identify interest in a business to get listed. Euronext Brussels is simply responsible for setting up a listing process one month before the publication of the IPO prospectus, which must be approved by the FSMA. After that, the stock exchange “Listing Board” makes a decision.
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It remains for society to organize roadshows with investors in order to make themselves better known and thus ensure the success of their IPO.
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