Proteina Invested by JP Morgan Hits All-Time High After Listing

Closed Lower Than Opening Price on First Trading Day
Stock Stagnated, Then Rebounded After IR for Institutions
Hit All-Time High Following News of JP Morgan Investment

Proteina, which made its debut on the KOSDAQ market in July this year, has seen its stock price rise rapidly in recent days. The news that global investment bank JP Morgan acquired a 5% stake has acted as a catalyst for the stock's surge. The fact that JP Morgan invested in a small-cap stock during the highly volatile initial listing period has attracted significant attention from investors.

According to the financial investment industry on September 9, Proteina's stock price rose by 73.9% over seven trading days starting from August 29. Its market capitalization increased to 289 billion won. The closing price reached 26,600 won, marking the highest level since its listing.

Proteina, founded in 2015 as a faculty startup from KAIST, is a protein big data company specializing in the analysis of protein-protein interactions (PPI). The company has overcome the limitations of existing PPI analysis technologies and is able to quickly secure highly reliable data. Based on its Single-Protein Interaction Detection (SPID) platform, Proteina quantifies protein-protein interactions from various analytical samples and utilizes this data in new drug development.

Kwon Hae-soon, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, explained, "Accurately identifying the composition and interaction networks of protein complexes through PPI analysis not only aids in discovering disease targets but also increases the accuracy of biomarker development and drug modulator design," adding, "This can increase the probability of success in new drug development."

Previously, on September 3, JP Morgan Asset Management's Asia-Pacific branch disclosed that it holds a 5.16% stake (560,500 shares) in Proteina. The total investment amount was approximately 8.7 billion won, with an average purchase price of 15,591 won per share. It is unusual for a global investment bank to hold more than a 5% stake in a newly listed KOSDAQ company. Since the news of JP Morgan's investment became public, Proteina's stock price has been on an upward trajectory. Proteina stated that JP Morgan had shown interest even before the company's listing.

After its listing on the KOSDAQ market on July 29, Proteina did not initially attract much attention. On the day of listing, the stock began trading at 23,750 won, which was 69.6% higher than the IPO price of 10,400 won. However, as institutional investors who received new shares through demand forecasting moved to realize profits, the stock closed at 17,550 won. Thereafter, the stock price fluctuated between 15,000 and 19,000 won.

Proteina held a corporate briefing (IR) for domestic institutional investors in collaboration with Eugene Investment & Securities over two days starting August 28. Institutional investors have continued net buying for eight consecutive trading days since August 28, recording a net purchase of 7.6 billion won during this period.

With institutional investors driving the stock's rebound and the news of JP Morgan's investment, Proteina's stock price briefly reached 27,900 won during trading on September 5, setting a new post-listing high.

Researcher Kwon noted, "Generate Biomedicine, a U.S. company with a business model similar to Proteina's ultimate target, was valued at approximately 1.68 billion dollars in its pre-IPO round." She added, "Proteina is also expected to maximize its corporate value through joint new drug development and licensing agreements with major global pharmaceutical companies."