Pharma firm Hepalink tops IPO price, soars on debut
Interesting notes: The high IPO price made the company's founders, the low-profile couple Li Li and Li Tan, who hold a combined stake of 72 percent, the wealthiest people in China overnight. Based on the current stock price, the value of the stake exceeded 50 billion yuan ($7.3 billion), surpassing Wang Chuanfu, chairman of electric car manufacturer BYD, China's richest person in 2009 with a fortune of $5.1 billion, according to the 2009 Hurun China Rich List. US investment bank Goldman Sachs, which paid $4.9 million for 12.5 percent of Hepalink in 2007, also saw a more than 200-fold return based on the current price. The Shenzhen-based drug company was founded in 1998. It primarily produces herapin, which is purified from pig intestines then made into a shot used to prevent blood clots in patients with heart conditions or undergoing surgery. As the only Chinese company accredited by the US Food and Drug Administration to export herapin, the company's net profit jumped from...