Sanigen, “Enough potential for food safety diagnosis… Confidence in growth”

No. 14 2023.09.11 View 693

Press dealsite

Created Date 2023.8.16

"As national income increases, consumer interest in food safety increases. Sanigen has developed food safety diagnostic capabilities that are directly related to public health through technology accumulated over a long period of business. After listing on the KOSDAQ market, starting with Japan, the United States, “We will increase performance and corporate value by entering advanced markets such as Europe.”

In an interview with Dealsite on the 14th, CEO Park Jeong-woong of Senizen said, "Food safety may be somewhat unfamiliar, but it is an important market directly connected to food, and in Korea, growth is accelerating as income increases." He added, “Multinational companies that entered the market in the past dominated the domestic market, but Cenizen has the upper hand in competition with them.”

Sanigen is a company established in 2005. We are developing diagnostic and sterilization solutions that detect microorganisms in food, such as food poisoning bacteria and viruses. Using the genetic marker platform 'HBI (High-accuracy Biomarker Identification)', we secured over 25,800 genetic information and 14,400 strain markers, and discovered genetic markers with sensitivity and specificity of over 99%.

Based on this, Cenizen commercialized the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic kit ‘Genelix’ in 2019. The product can produce results 2 to 5 days faster than the existing microbial testing method, the culture medium method. It is the only product in Korea that can be customized to meet customer needs, including low-temperature and poultry-derived foods, and is currently being supplied to major food companies.

Recently, we completed the commercialization of ‘GeNext’, a product based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Genext is the world's first product that can perform multiple analysis of 16 types of food poisoning bacteria in 384 samples. After launching the prototype in the second half of last year, application testing is being conducted focusing on safety centers within major customer companies. It is expected that full-fledged sales will occur next year.

The reason why Sanigen was able to secure such technological capabilities is its research and development (R&D) capabilities. The company operates a research center specialized in three areas: analysis, diagnosis, and sterilization. Of the approximately 100 employees, R&D personnel accounted for 40%. It also holds 51 intellectual property (IP)-centered patents. It also received an A grade in the technology evaluation of CSI evaluation information and Korea evaluation data conducted last January.

The capabilities of each executive are also evaluated as outstanding. CEO Park accumulated knowledge related to genomes and microorganisms while serving as team leader of CJ CheilJedang's food research institute. Jinho Choi, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), also worked at CJ CheilJedang for about 10 years. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Youngki Yoon successfully led Aptamer Science's initial public offering (IPO) in 2020.

CEO Park said, “We believe that Sanigen has ample growth potential as sales of microbiological diagnostic products are showing an upward trend, centered on food companies and analysis institutes. Even after listing, we will continue to invest in R&D to increase business competitiveness and become the first food safety diagnostic company.” “We will take on a form befitting the company,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, Sanigen is attempting to enter the KOSDAQ market through a merger with KB No. 23 Pack and SPAC extinction. The merger ratio is 1 to 0.2398369, and the issuance price of new merged shares is 8,339 won. The market capitalization after listing is approximately 60.4 billion won (including convertible bonds). The general shareholders' meeting to discuss the SPAC merger agenda will be held on September 15th, and the listing date is scheduled for November 3rd. The merger manager is KB Securities.

Sanigen plans to use the funds (KRW 13.8 billion) from the merger for R&D, facility investment, and operating funds. Specifically, 2.5 billion won will be spent on product advancement and 4.5 billion won on facility investment. 4.5 billion won will be invested in entering advanced markets such as the U.S. and Europe. In the case of overseas expansion, the company decided to contract with agencies and supply products rather than establishing a local corporation.

Financial investors (FIs) such as Now IB and IMM Investment also contributed with active protection deposits (1 to 3 months). They lowered their expectations to present a market-friendly public offering structure, even though Sanigen's issuance price (8,339 won) was not much different from the final investment attraction price (8,250 won). Sanigen has attracted approximately 18.5 billion won in external investment, starting with Series A (4 billion won) and ending with Series B (14 billion won).

Article text https://dealsite.co.kr/articles/108648

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Sanigen, “Enough potential for food safety diagnosis… Confidence in growth”

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