PolyPeptide Group AG, advised by Niederer Kraft Frey as lead counsel, today commenced trading on SIX Swiss Exchange. This represents the first traditional IPO in Switzerland since late 2019. The IPO was multiple times oversubscribed given strong demand from investors across Switzerland and internationally.

The offering consisted of 3,125,000 new shares as well as 8,396,740 existing shares offered by PolyPeptide’s sole shareholder, Draupnir Holding B.V., at an offer price of CHF 64.00 per share (with an over-allotment option of up to 1,728,261 existing shares), which implies a total placement volume of up to CHF 848 million. Trading opened at CHF 72.50 and closed on the first trading day at CHF 78.20, which represents a rise of more than 22 per cent from the offer price and implies a total market capitalisation of CHF 2.59 billion.

PolyPeptide is a Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) focusing on proprietary and generic GMP-grade peptides used by pharmaceutical and biotech companies in approved pharmaceutical products, drugs in clinical development as well as in generic products. Dating back to 1952, PolyPeptide today manufactures around one-half of all currently approved peptide drug substances with a global footprint of six GMP-certified facilities in Europe, the U.S. and India. As a multinational company with more than 900 employees, its diversity brings breadth, depth of knowledge and experience to the group. PolyPeptide has grown organically and by selective acquisition of existing expertise, culminating in its position today as a leader in outsourced peptide manufacturing.

The NKF team was led by Corporate/Capital Markets partner Philippe Weber and further comprised partner Thomas Brönnimann, counsel Christina Del Vecchio, associate Corinne Russi, junior associate Samuel Noser (all Corporate/Capital Markets) as well as partners Markus Kronauer and Daniela Schmucki (both Tax) and partner Andreas Casutt and associates Annina Fey and Alessandro Stanchieri (all Corporate/Employment Law). Clifford Chance, led by Frankfurt based partner George Hacket, advised PolyPeptide on the U.S. law matters of the transaction.