GEN Held ‘Bell Ceremony’ at Borsa Istanbul for IPO

GEN, operating in the Turkish pharmaceutical sector for 23 years, completed its public offering process led by OYAK Investment.

The gong ceremony for GEN was attended by Korkmaz Ergun, General Manager of Borsa Istanbul A.Ş., Abidin Gülmüş, Chairman of the Board of GEN, Semra Gülmüş, Partner at GEN Pharmaceutical, Yağmur Selin Gülmüş Kolay, Deputy General Manager at GEN Pharmaceutical, Eda Gülmüş, Foreign Trade Manager at GEN Pharmaceutical, and Erkan Ünal, General Manager of OYAK Investment. Korkmaz Ergun, General Manager of Borsa Istanbul A.Ş., began his remarks at the gong ceremony by expressing his sorrow regarding the forest fires ongoing in Turkey. On the matter, Ergun stated: "I want to express that we stand with all our teams and people who are fighting with full dedication against the forest fires we are facing. We extend our deepest condolences to those who have lost their lives and wish speedy recovery to the wounded." Emphasizing the strategic importance of the pharmaceutical sector once again evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ergun underlined that companies like GEN will take Turkey further, continuing his remarks as follows: "GEN Pharmaceutical's position, importance and success in its sector are reflected in the success of the public offering. GEN Pharmaceutical conducted a very successful public offering with a transaction value of approximately TRY 738 million and sales to 49,000 investors. There are three points I wish to emphasize regarding this successful public offering. First, extremely high interest was shown in this offering; total demand exceeded 6 times, reaching 8 times for individual investors. Second, 38% of the sales were made to domestic institutional investors. Third, and I believe more importantly, 25% of sales were made to foreign institutional investors. What I mean is that when you conduct a public offering of the right company at the right price at the right time, both domestic and foreign institutional investors can show high interest. This strong demand and foreign and institutional interest actually demonstrate confidence in our country, our economy, our capital markets and our exchange. I thank the valuable managers and employees of our company, the valuable managers and employees of the brokerage firm. I welcome GEN Pharmaceutical to 'our exchange family' and wish it beneficial contributions to our capital market." GEN Chairman of the Board Abidin Gülmüş, speaking at the gong ceremony, said: "Today is a very important and historic day for GEN. After 23 years of dedicated work, we have achieved a successful public offering." Emphasizing that the most important reason for the successful demand collection process in the public offering was that the pharmaceutical sector is as important as the defense industry and has a strong financial structure, Gülmüş extended his thanks to all investors for their intense interest. Continuing his remarks on the subject, Gülmüş said: "I extend my endless gratitude to the colleagues who brought us to where we are today and to all company employees, as well as to the OYAK Investment management and team." Gülmüş also stated that they have undertaken a very serious mission in the process ahead.

"We Will Work Even Harder to Not Disappoint Our Investors' Expectations"

Speaking as "Our investors trusted us, invested with us and the burden on our shoulders has grown heavier. To not disappoint their expectations, we will continue our work with more energy and enthusiasm than we have worked so far," Gülmüş shared his targets following the public offering process: "We want to do what has not been done in Turkey until today; we want to conduct Phase 1-2-3 studies starting from preclinical studies. As a result, we are working on several molecules that will be proven through multi-center clinical studies in Turkey and internationally. In fact, we believe we have taken an important step to produce the raw materials of these molecules in Turkey as well. Additionally, within the next 3 years, we aim to export 70% of the medicines we produce in our production facilities in Ankara." Gülmüş also noted that they aim to obtain approval from the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) in America and from the EMA (European Medicines Agency) to enter the European market, stating: "With the revenue from the exchange, we believe we will be able to realize all the projects we have dreamed of, we will be able to add value to our country, and we will be able to wave our country's flag even better. Of course, while doing all this, I want to say that our investors should be patient, continue to follow us and be assured that we will present all developments with full transparency and notification to them. Success, courage and innovative vision are in our genes. And above all, I say 'there is goodness in our genes' and 'the future belongs to GEN'."

Ünal: "We Saw Once Again How Critical Importance the Pharmaceutical Sector Has"

OYAK Investment General Manager Erkan Ünal, underscoring the importance of GEN in the Turkish pharmaceutical sector, noted that its public offering provided significant contribution to the capital markets. Ünal, noting that they went through a successful public offering process, continued his remarks as follows: "The demand shown to GEN Pharmaceutical is a reflection of how good a job we did. On the domestic institutional side, we achieved demand close to 10 times, reaching a total magnitude approaching 6.7 times. We saw once again how critical importance the pharmaceutical sector has; COVID-19 brought this reality before us again. We all witnessed how technology production and patent rights shape a country's economy, how rapidly they transform that country's capital market, exchange, and companies. GEN Pharmaceutical is a company that has taken steps in this direction. I hope it succeeds and makes important contributions to our country. I extend our gratitude to the Capital Markets Board, Borsa Istanbul, the Central Registry Agency, Takas Bank, our brokerage institutions and all our investors, who did not spare their support during this intensive process." Source