(Yicai) July 15 -- Shares of GenScript Biotech surged after a report claiming that a listed US subsidiary of the Chinese biopharmaceutical company has received a tender offer.

GenScript [HKG: 1548] closed 25.4 percent higher at HKD12.54 (USD1.61) a share in Hong Kong today, after earlier soaring by as much as 30 percent.

Legend Biotech recently received a takeover approach and has hired an investment bank to evaluate whether to accept it, Street Insider reported on July 12, without disclosing the name of the potential buyer.

Shares of Legend Biotech [NASDAQ: LEGN] surged 12.1 percent to end at USD54.37 apiece in New York on July 12, bringing its market capitalization to USD9.9 billion.

Legend Biotech and GenScript had “no further information” when contacted by Yicai, with the parent firm noting that the unit would announce if it receives a formal offer.

GenScript is Legend Biotech’s largest shareholder, with a 48 percent stake. The unit’s first commercialized innovative drug Carvykti was the first Chinese original CAR T-cell cancer treatment sold overseas, after getting US approval in February 2022 and later being greenlit for sale in the European Union and Japan. It is still applying to go on the Chinese market.

Carvykti sales reached USD268 million in 2022, USD500 million last year, and USD157 million in the first quarter of this year. It is expected to become the second biological drug with an annual revenue of over USD1 billion developed by a Chinese innovative drugmaker.

Legend Biotech’s net loss narrowed 47 percent to USD59.8 million in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier. The New Jersey-based firm forecasted that it may turn a profit in 2026.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev