Samsung eyes first entry into US stock markets

South Korea's dominant Samsung conglomerate will make its first entry into US stock markets next year with the listing of a biotechnology affiliate, a company official said Friday.

The listing of Samsung Bioepis on the Nasdaq Stock Market is aimed at securing funds for investment in the field of biosimilars -- a new breed of drugs that mimic the effects of far more costly biologic drugs made from living cells.

"With an underwriter already designated, preparations are under way for the public stock listing of Bioepis in the first half of next year," the Samsung official told AFP.

Bioepis will be the first Samsung affiliate to list in the United States.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest mobile phone maker which accounts for the lion's share of the group's sales and profits, controls 46 percent of Samsung BioLogics, which in turn holds 90 percent of Bioepis.

The Samsung group is already remarkably diverse, with interests ranging from electronics to construction and shipbuilding, and sees biotechnology as a revenue growth engine for the future.