South Korea’s SillaJen Inc. has chosen M2N Co. as a preferred bidder to acquire the management rights of the biotechnology company, raising expectations about resuming normal operations after it avoided delisting last year with a one-year grace period.

SillaJen announced Wednesday that it selected M2N as the would-be acquirer of its management control after evaluating its financing plan, clinical trial plan, and product pipeline, among others, at the board meeting held on Monday.

Founded in 1978, M2N is a company that used to manufacture steel drums. It expanded its business into the bio sector last year, setting up wholly-owned subsidiary M2N Bio to acquire U.S.-based drugmaker GFB.

SillaJen expects that if the deal goes as planned with M2N, it will be able to improve its governance and resume normal trading on the Kosdaq market.

By Kim Byung-ho and Lee Soo-min

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]