Recently, synthetic biology has exploded in the capital market, and a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that a company involved in the concept of synthetic biology is sprinting to the Science and Technology Innovation Board, which is Nanjing Xuankai Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xuankai Biotechnology"). However, after more than one year and four months of acceptance, the IPO of Xuankai Biotech has progressed slowly, and it is still in the inquiry stage and has not yet been given the opportunity to go to the meeting. It is worth noting that from 2019 to 2022, the gross profit margin of Xuankai Biotech's main business has been declining year by year, and in addition, Xuankai Biotech has a close relationship with Huifeng Co., Ltd., a Shenzhen main board company.
Deeply involved in synthetic biology related projects
Recently, synthetic biology has become a hot topic in the capital market, in addition to the listed companies, Beijing Business Daily reporter noticed that among the stock of IPO companies, there is also a company involved in synthetic biology, which is Xuankai Biotechnology.
According to the prospectus, Xuankai Biotech is based on the continuous R&D and industrialization of industrial biotechnology and synthetic biology, and its main products are biological additives (mainly composed of single ingredient substances, such as polyglutamic acid, Bacillus subtilis, chito-oligosaccharides, etc.) and biological agent products (different components are formed according to the combination of formulas).
At present, synthetic biology has become one of the hottest concepts in the capital market. In an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, the relevant person in charge of Xuankai Biology said that with the development of synthetic biology technology, the company has gradually formed core technologies such as engineering strain design and efficient production technology of biological enzymes, enzyme catalytic reaction and product separation and purification technology since 2018, and gradually involved in the field of artificial design of cell factories.
Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the main reason why synthetic biology is focused on is because it solves the problems faced by traditional bioengineering, and synthetic biology provides a new and precise way to design and modify biological systems. In addition, synthetic biology can be applied to many fields such as medicine, agriculture, chemical industry, environmental protection, and energy, and has great commercial value and potential. At present, synthetic biology as an emerging field is still on the rise, but the future development will depend on the changes of multiple factors.
The relevant person in charge of Xuankai Biology said that the company is now deeply involved in the implementation of the national key research and development plan "green manufacturing and industrial demonstration of fully biosynthetic biopolymers", and led the project of "research on structure-activity relationship of biopolymers and agricultural application development", and participated in the project of "research and development of efficient synthesis of polyamino acids from non-food raw materials and construction of 10,000 tons of production line".
In the opinion of the above-mentioned person in charge, synthetic biology has a bright future. "Synthetic biology can promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries by providing new biomaterials and technologies, and can be applied to bio-based materials, biofuels, biomedicine and other fields, and is a key industry encouraged and supported by national policies. In addition, the products developed based on synthetic biology technology are more environmentally friendly and efficient, which is also conducive to achieving the goal of 'carbon neutrality' to a certain extent. The person in charge said.
I haven't had a chance to attend the meeting yet
The IPO of Xuankai Biotech, which was accepted at the end of 2022 at the end of 2022, is still in the inquiry stage.
According to the official website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the IPO of Xuankai Biotech Innovation Board was accepted on December 29, 2022, and entered the inquiry stage on January 19, 2023. On May 18, 2023, Xuankai Biotech replied to the first round of inquiries, and then supplemented the response to the inquiry on September 27, 2023, supplementing the financial data of the 2023 semi-annual report. Since then, there has been no further progress in the IPO of Xuankai Biotech, which has been stagnant for more than 7 months.
In an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, the relevant person in charge of Xuankai Biology said that the company's initial listing application is now progressing normally.
According to the prospectus, Xuankai Biotech plans to raise 769 million yuan in the IPO of the Science and Technology Innovation Board, which is planned to be invested in three projects: the industrialization project of microbial products, the feed project with an annual output of 200,000 tons, and the reconstruction and expansion project of Xuankai Biotechnology Research Institute.
It is worth noting that from 2019 to 2022, the gross profit margin of Xuankai Bio's main business showed a downward trend year by year, which were 57.51%, 48.6%, 42.26% and 40.68%, respectively. In the first half of 2023, the gross profit margin of Xuankai Bio's main business will be 43.86%, a slight recovery.
The relevant person in charge of Xuankai Biology told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the gross profit margin of the company's biologics products showed an overall downward trend during the reporting period, mainly due to the difference in the structure of subdivided products. Since 2022, with the increase in the proportion of the company's high-gross margin products and the scale of production and sales, the gross profit margin has also increased.
Xuankai Biotech said that the company has taken a variety of measures to cope with the downward pressure on gross profit margin, including continuing to expand the product range and launching products with high added value and high gross profit margin. On the whole, the company's comprehensive gross profit margin does not have a continuous and significant decline trend.
It has a close relationship with Huifeng shares
It is worth mentioning that Xuankai Biotechnology has a close relationship with Huifeng Shares, a company on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
It is understood that Huifeng shares in December 2017 to invest in Xuankai Biotechnology, at the beginning of the reporting period Huifeng shares held 19% of the equity of Xuankai Biotechnology. In August 2020, Huifeng Co., Ltd. transferred part of its equity in Xuankai Biotechnology to external financial investors such as Wen's Investment, and the shareholding ratio of Huifeng Co., Ltd. decreased to 10.15%; Subsequently, in December 2021, Huifeng shares transferred part of the shares held by Xuankai Biotechnology again, and after the completion of the transfer, Huifeng shares held 7.48% of the shares.
The relevant person in charge of Xuankai Biology said that in 2017, Huifeng Co., Ltd. invested in the company out of recognition of the company's products and technical strength, and then transferred part of the company's equity to external investors who were optimistic about the company's development prospects based on its own capital needs.
In addition, before and after the shareholding of Xuankai Biotechnology, Huifeng Co., Ltd. and Xuankai Biotechnology have a business cooperative relationship, mainly for Huifeng Co., Ltd. to purchase biological additives and biologics products from Xuankai Biologics. From 2020 to 2022 and the first half of 2023, Xuankai Biotech will have affiliated sales of 5.3054 million yuan, 2.1664 million yuan, 2.4289 million yuan and 1.9563 million yuan to Huifeng Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries, respectively.
Xu Xiaoheng, an investment and financing expert, said that related-party transactions have always been the focus of IPO review, and issues such as the fairness of related-party sales prices and the reasonableness of related-party transactions are easy to be questioned by regulators during the review. The relevant person in charge of Xuankai Biology told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the trade between the company and Huifeng shares has a reasonable commercial purpose, and it is a transaction carried out on normal commercial terms in the course of daily business, and the pricing of related party transactions is determined in accordance with the principle of marketization, which is in line with the overall interests of the company and does not harm the interests of the company and shareholders.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Ding Ning