Andrew Harline

San Francisco – February 9, 2023 – Cooley advised Structure Therapeutics, a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company, on its $185.3 million initial public offering, including the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional American depositary shares. Lawyers Charlie Kim, Patrick Loofbourrow, Andrew Harline and Su Lian Lu led the Cooley team.

The offering marks the first sizable US life sciences IPO this year. Structure Therapeutics will use the proceeds to develop new oral therapies for the treatment of various diseases, including those impacting the metabolic, cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. Its lead product candidate targets Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Structure Therapeutics aims to develop and deliver novel oral therapeutics to treat a wide range of chronic diseases with unmet medical needs. Its differentiated technology platform leverages structure-based drug discovery and computational chemistry expertise, enabling it to build a pipeline of product candidates. The company currently focuses on G-protein-coupled receptors as a therapeutic target class.

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Cooley advised 2C2P, a global payments platform, on its strategic partnership with Ant Group, an innovative technology provider that strives to bring the world inclusive, green and sustainable services. Lawyers Matthew Bartus and Gwenlynne Lee led the Cooley team advising 2C2P.

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As a result of the transaction, Asymchem will significantly expand its footprint in the US, offering customers a seamless path from preclinical process R&D through commercial current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) production. Snapdragon will operate as a stand-alone Asymchem division, and continue with its ongoing lab and manufacturing facility expansion for additional capacity to support larger, pilot-scale manufacturing in Waltham, Massachusetts.

"We believe continuous flow manufacturing is a revolutionary technology and represents the future of pharmaceutical production, not only generating advantages to process safety and cost, but also bringing tremendous environmental benefits," Hao Hong, chairman and CEO of Asymchem, said in a news release. "Asymchem has been deeply committed to flow chemistry technology development and its application expansion in the pharmaceutical industry for more than a decade. We are excited that this strategic acquisition will further strengthen our capabilities in continuous manufacturing, as well as broadening our service scope and client pool."

Cooley advised Japanese company Paidy, a two-sided payments platform and provider of buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions, on its agreement to sell to PayPal for approximately $2.7 billion in cash. Lawyers Rama Padmanabhan, Patrick Loofbourrow, Rowook Park, Andrew Harline and Vivian Tsai led the US- and Asia-based Cooley team advising Paidy on the transaction, which highlights Cooley’s strong capability for executing complex, globally handled deals.

Cooley advised Riverwood Capital on leading Nium’s $200 million+ Series D financing round, which brings the Singapore-based business payments company’s valuation to more than $1 billion. Partners Matthew Bartus and Adam Dinow led the international Cooley team advising Riverwood Capital on the transaction, which makes Nium the first business-to-business (B2B) unicorn in Southeast Asia.