Alteogen's Unstoppable Surge... 1113% Soars in 10 Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Koh Hyung-kwang] The stock price of bio company Alteogen is on a relentless upward trend. Fueled by expectations of technology exports, the stock price has surged more than 12 times in the past 10 months. Its market capitalization has surpassed 3.4 trillion KRW, ranking 4th in the KOSDAQ market.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 8th, as of 10 a.m., Alteogen was trading at 248,100 KRW on the KOSDAQ market, up 1.8% from the previous trading day. The stock price has risen nearly 30% over the past three consecutive days. It has nearly doubled in the past month and quadrupled compared to March. Compared to 20,450 KRW on August 6 last year, when it hit its yearly low, it has skyrocketed by a staggering 1113% in 10 months.

Since listing on the KOSDAQ market in December 2014, Alteogen’s stock price hovered between 20,000 and 40,000 KRW before breaking out of the box range in the second half of last year and entering an upward trend. It surpassed 100,000 KRW for the first time earlier this year but took a brief pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic before resuming its rise.

As of the previous day’s closing price, the market capitalization stood at 3.4108 trillion KRW, ranking 4th in the KOSDAQ. Until early August last year, it was outside the top 100 (ranked 122nd), but the rapid stock price surge in a short period pushed its ranking up by 118 places. Only three companies in the KOSDAQ have a higher market capitalization than Alteogen: Celltrion Healthcare, HLB, and Celltrion Pharm.

Alteogen’s core business is in the bio-better field. Bio-betters are drugs based on original biopharmaceuticals with improved efficacy and safety. Alteogen possesses two bio-better technologies: sustained-release technology and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology. The company’s business model involves developing new bio-betters and licensing the technology to global pharmaceutical companies.

In November last year, Alteogen signed multiple technology transfer contracts, including one with a global pharmaceutical company that could yield up to 1.6 trillion KRW in revenue depending on future performance. It is also known to be discussing technology transfers with several global pharmaceutical companies this year. The recent surge in Alteogen’s stock price is interpreted as a reflection of these expectations. Foreign investors have supported the stock price rise by net purchasing 67.9 billion KRW worth of Alteogen shares this year alone.

At the end of last month, attention was drawn when Kim Beom-su’s brother-in-law, Hyung In-woo, CEO of Smart & Growth, disclosed a “large-scale trade of more than 5% stake” in Alteogen. He is reported to have been an early investor in Kakao 10 years ago, earning tremendous profits. On the 3rd, the stock briefly hit the lower limit during trading due to accounting fraud rumors, but quickly recovered after the company denied the allegations as groundless.

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