NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Berry Genomics, a Chinese molecular diagnostic company, confirmed for GenomeWeb that it is attempting to go public in China through a reverse merger with Chengdu Tianxing Instrument & Meter, an auto parts maker listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
News of Berry's plans was first reported last week by a website called China Money Network.
If approved, the reverse merger would enable Berry Genomics to become a publicly traded company without having to go through an initial public offering.
Berry declined to comment further on the reverse merger until it is approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Last year the company received premarket clearance from the China Food and Drug Administration for the NextSeq CN500, an instrument it developed with Illumina, and its noninvasive prenatal test.
China's genomic giant BGI is also aiming to go public. Early last year, then-CEO Jun Wang announced the firm's intention to go public in 2016, and the company filed for an IPO later in the year on ChiNext, which is part of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
According to previous news reports, getting an IPO approved in China is a very lengthy process, particularly since China Securities Regulatory Commission's four-month IPO ban last summer. Berry's reverse merger plan would avoid having to go through this longer IPO approval process.