Despite the sluggish initial public offering (IPO) market continuing throughout the year, four Korean biotech companies are preparing to go public in September. The four companies are SunBio, RP Bio, Plasmapp, and Shaperon.

Most biopharmaceutical companies that went public in the first half suffered declines in stock price amid the global economic slowdown and failure to obtain new drug approvals.

According to the Korea Exchange, half of the six biopharmaceutical companies that went public in the first half of this year have shown a decline in share prices as of August.

Adbiotech, which went public on Jan. 24, ended trading on Aug. 31 at 4,615 won ($3.33), down 34 percent from its IPO price of 7,000 won, and shares of BioFD&C and Noul also shed 21 and 33 percent, respectively, compared to their IPO price.

Now, industry watchers are closely watching the upcoming IPO of the four companies.

In general, most Korean biopharmaceutical firms use the nation’s “special technology listing” system to go public because it makes them easier to get listed with technological power and growth potential, rather than business performance.

However, industry insiders said investors grew more hesitant to invest in biotech firms because of the slowing economic growth.

Among the four companies, SunBio is the first company seeking a listing on the Kosdaq market through an IPO.

SunBio aims to move from the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)-focused Konex market to the tech-heavy Kosdaq. It forecast institutional investors’ subscription on Monday and Tuesday, and will proceed with general subscription on Sept. 13-14.

The company plans to offer 616,000 shares at 14,000 to 16,000 won per share to raise up to 197 billion won.

Rp Bio is a pharmaceutical manufacturer, including soft capsules, established in 1983 through a joint venture between RP Scherer Corp., U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing company, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical.

Rp Bio will conduct institutional demand forecasting from Sep. 15-16, and general subscription from Sep 20-21. The expected offering price is set between 10,000 won and 13,000 won.

Plasmapp is a biomedical device company that develops low-temperature plasma sterilizers. The company started at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2015.

It plans to enter the stock market through a special technology listing system. The company plans to offer 1.771 million shares at 9,000 to 11,000 won per share to raise up to 19.5 billion won.

Shaperon will also go public through the special technology listing system. The company is developing GPCR19-targeted inflammatory complex inhibitor and nanobody immune antibody treatment, which are new drugs for intractable inflammatory diseases. The company plans to offer 2.747 million shares at 8,200 to 10,200 won per share to raise up to 28 billion won.

A local analyst said that the prospect of these four companies waiting for an IPO was not bright.

“As the overall stock market deteriorated, the IPO market is also going through an unfavorable period, resulting in the IPO price falling below the pre-IPO investment value before listing,” said Lee Jun-soo, an analyst for Prophet Asset Management. “The corporate value of companies such as Voronoi and VUNO recognized during their IPO also stopped at the pre-IPO level.”

Korean biotech companies planning to raise new funds through listing will face financial difficulties, and it will not be easy for existing investors to recover their funds in the near future, he added.