While Retail Investors Flocked to Semiconductors, Investment Giants Bet 47.8 Billion Won on Overlooked Stocks

Despite the heated domestic stock market, Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies remain relatively underappreciated. However, inflows of capital from global asset managers and heavyweight investors are actually increasing. Foreign institutional investors continue to make selective investments, focusing on companies with globally competitive pipelines or unique platform technologies.

According to industry sources and the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on June 17, BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company based in the United States, recently increased its stake in Yuhan Corporation through its affiliated funds from 4.36% to 5.07%, becoming a major shareholder. The additional purchase amounted to approximately 47.8 billion won, with the investment purpose stated as a simple investment. Market experts believe this move reflects a positive outlook on Yuhan Corporation's expanded royalty income from the global commercialization of its lung cancer drug Leclaza, as well as the growth potential of its follow-up pipelines, including the allergy treatment YH35324, the HER2 bispecific antibody anticancer drug YH32367, and the HER2 targeted anticancer drug YH42946.

BlackRock also increased its investment in HLB, another Korean biotech company. After becoming the second-largest shareholder by acquiring a 5.01% stake in HLB in March this year, BlackRock has recently expanded its holding to 6.05%. HLB is awaiting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval decision for its combination therapy of the liver cancer drug rivoceranib and camrelizumab, and this increase is seen as a reflection of the anticipated post-approval momentum.

Foreign institutions are also actively participating in direct investment methods such as convertible bonds (CB) and paid-in capital increases. Weiss Asset Management, based in Boston, invested in 50 billion won worth of CB issued by D&D Pharmatech to support clinical development of therapies such as treatments for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Weiss Asset Management also invested 30 billion won in convertible preferred shares (CPS) of Orum Therapeutics, a developer of antibody-drug conjugates (DAC).

Such movements of global capital demonstrate that the medium- to long-term technological competitiveness and growth potential of the Korean pharmaceutical and biotech industry are being highly regarded. Olix also secured a third-party allotment capital increase of approximately 110 billion won, with participation from BOLD, the venture fund of L'Oreal Group, and Weiss Asset Management, confirming the competitiveness of its RNAi platform technology. In addition, global pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly not only signed a bispecific antibody platform technology transfer agreement with ABL Bio, but also invested 15 million dollars (approximately 2.26 billion won) in shares.

Furthermore, U.S.-based GordonMD Global Investments has formed a co-investment platform with domestic venture capital firms and made its first investment in the unlisted biotech company Curigen, highlighting the diversification of channels for foreign capital inflows.

However, concerns remain about the foundation and fundamental strength of the industry, as foreign institutional investment is concentrated in a limited number of companies rather than spreading across the entire bio sector. The KOSDAQ pharmaceutical index has declined by approximately 36.7% since March 27 this year. An industry source commented, "The inflow of global capital is a result of a high assessment of the technological competitiveness and growth potential of the Korean pharmaceutical and biotech industry from a medium- to long-term perspective, rather than for short-term trading gains," adding, "If the initial investment results become visible, a virtuous cycle of expanded interest in other domestic companies may follow. Therefore, continuously demonstrating technological achievements and corporate competitiveness to foreign investors remains a key challenge."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.