[THE INVESTOR] Korean biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion has filed to relist its stocks to the benchmark KOSPI market from the secondary KOSDAQ.

According to bourse operator Korea Exchange, the most valuable stock on the KOSDAQ has submitted an application for preliminary review of its relisting. Its stocks are expected to begin trading from February after a 45-day review period. 

On the news, Celltrion shares increased as much as 3.2 percent to end a four-day losing streak but retreated in the afternoon.

The move comes after the firm received thousands of petitions from minority shareholders requesting the relisting to prevent massive short-selling transactions in September.

Celltrion’s market capitalization stands at 24.9 trillion won (US$22.78 billion), on par with KOSPI’s No. 10 stock KB Financial Group with 25 trillion won.

Its stock price has surged over 90 percent this year thanks to brisk sales of its biosimilar products -- Remsima, its version of Johnson & Johnson’s top-selling drug Remicad; and Truxima, copycat of Roche’s Rituxan.

Expectations that the shift to the first-tier bourse will have a positive impact on supply-demand conditions also led to the stock price jump. Some experts believe that Celltrion could attract fresh demand from investors who prefer stable returns on safe stocks and offer broader exposure to institutional investors with the relocation.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)