Cellivery, which entered the KOSDAQ market as the first ‘growth-special listing’ in the country, began its organized trading in accordance with delisting on the 25th.
On the 25th, Cellivery formed an opening price of 100 won in the KOSDAQ market. This is 98.5% (6,580 won) lower than the closing price of 6,590 won before the transaction was halted.
The organized trading for Cellivery will be conducted for seven trading days from this day until March 6th, followed by final delisting on March 7th. During the organized trading period, single-price transactions will be conducted in regular hours (from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.), and there will be no price limits, which could lead to sharp fluctuations in stock prices.
Cellivery, a bio corporation, stepped into the KOSDAQ market in November 2018 through the growth-special listing method. This was the first case in the country. The growth-special listing system allows companies with high growth potential to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) even if their immediate performance is poor, by relaxing the listing requirements for companies recommended by securities firms acting as listing sponsors.
Cellivery has attracted market attention by developing new drug candidates, including treatments for Parkinson's disease, based on its drug substance delivery technology (TSDT). The stock price even exceeded 100,000 won on January 2021.
However, it received an opinion denial in the audit of its financial statements in 2023, and the KOSDAQ Market Committee decided to delist it in June of last year. Cellivery resisted the delisting decision by filing a request for suspension of effect, but on the 21st, the Southern District Court of Seoul dismissed the request.
Cellivery's founder, CEO Joo Dae-woong, was arrested and indicted on charges of violating capital market laws on the 17th. According to prosecutors, Joo and others are accused of issuing convertible bonds to raise about 70 billion won, claiming that the funds would be used for research and development costs for new drug development, including treatments for COVID-19, and then using the money to acquire a wet tissue manufacturing company and lending more than 20 billion won to the company without collateral.
They are also accused of avoiding losses of over 500 million won by selling stocks before the transaction was halted, having previously known that Cellivery would receive an unfavorable audit opinion around March 2023 using undisclosed internal information.