Number of Companies Going Public, and the Amount They Raise, Show Growth
Renaissance Capital didn’t mince words when it headlined its most recent quarterly review of initial public offering trends during the second quarter of this year, “Most Active IPO Market in Three Years.”
During the second quarter, biotechs accounted for one-third (20) of the 60 U.S. companies recorded by Renaissance as having gone public, compared with 13 during Q2 2017. PwC listed 24 companies in the “pharma and life sciences” sector—which includes medical tech—as having raised $2.5 billion during Q2 2018, up from the $1 billion raised by 13 such companies in the second three months of 2017.
Over the first half of this year, GEN found 36 biopharmas having begun selling shares, or American Depositary Shares, on exchanges worldwide. Below is a list of the 10 largest biotech IPOs that were completed, or at least began trading shares, as of June 30. Each IPO is listed by name of company, amount raised (usually net proceeds), date of completion, number of shares sold, and price per share, trading symbol, and market(s) where shares are traded. Non-U.S. currency has been converted to U.S. dollars.
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Interestingly, this year’s top 10 IPOs raised a combined $1.797 billion in net proceeds—up 6.5% from the $1.687 billion in net proceeds garnered by the top 10 of January–June 2017, as reported by GEN last year. While the combined total didn’t rise too dramatically year-over-year, every company on this year’s top-10 IPO list raised more than $100 million, compared with the top seven of January–June 2017.
Not included on this list are pending IPOs that have been filed by companies but have yet to be priced or commence trading, as well as IPOs that have been publicly discussed—whether by executives or in news reports—but not yet filed.
The most recent example of a company in the former category at deadline was Vaccinex, which filed an S-1 registration statement disclosing its intent to raise up to $46 million. Vaccinex is a developer of therapies targeting semaphorin 4D as a potential treatment for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, or autoimmune disorders. The company seeks to trade its shares on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol VCNX. Other examples of companies that filed for IPOs during 2018, but which had yet to launch them at deadline, include AOBiome Therapeutics, Innovent Biolgics, Mereo BioPharma, PolyPid, Stealth Biotherapeutics.
As for IPOs publicly discussed by executives, one such example is Nant, a company which billionaire entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., told Reuters he is forming to take public, with the goal of developing a pipeline of cancer treatments. That pipeline includes ganitumab, a Phase III monoclonal antibody which Dr. Soon-Shiong’s NantCell is developing under a license agreement with Amgen.
Another publicly discussed IPO in the making is Shanghai-based Hua Medicine, which announced last month that its application for an IPO was approved by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. The diabetes drug developer did not disclose how much it intends to raise. Published news reports have Hua raising anywhere from $200 million (South China Morning Post) to “at least $400 million” (Reuters).
Two other nine-figure IPOs could not be included: At deadline, the IPO for Translate Bio that launched on June 28 had not been completed. As a result, it was not known if the offering would include up to an additional 1,402,500 shares of common stock for which underwriters have a 30-day option expiring later this month—which the company estimated last month would increase its net proceeds to $125.9 million, and thus make Translate Bio a top-10 IPO. If the shares are not part of the offering, the estimated net proceeds would be approximately $109 million, and therefore not a top-10 IPO.
Also excluded was the IPO that would have ranked eighth had the company not been acquired by Eli Lilly. Armo BioSciences, the developer of a Phase III cancer candidate AM0010 (pegilodecakin), raised $133.2 million in net proceeds in its January 26 IPO, which came nearly four months before Lilly announced May 10 that it was buying the company for approximately $1.6 billion, in a deal completed June 22.
#10. Arcus Biosciences
Market (Symbol): New York Stock Exchange (RCUS)
Amount: $124.7 million in net proceeds
Date: March 15
Shares/Price per share: 9.2 million shares at $15
#9. Menlo Therapeutics
Market (Symbol): NASDAQ Global Select Market (MNLO)
Amount: Approximately $125.5 million in net proceeds
Date: January 25
Shares/Price per share: 8.05 million shares at $17
#8. Solid Biosciences
Market (Symbol): NASDAQ Global Select Market (SLDB)
Amount: Approximately $133.7 million in net proceeds
Date: January 26
Shares/Price per share: 8,984,375 shares at $16
#7. Homology Medicines
Market (Symbol): NASDAQ Global Select Market (FIXX)
Amount: $151.0 million in net proceeds
Date: March 28
Shares/Price per share: 1.35 million shares at $16
#6. Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals
Market (Symbol): NASDAQ Global Select Market (KNSA)
Amount: Approximately $154.95 million in estimated net proceeds
Date: May 24
Shares/Price per share: 9,484,202 shares at $18
#5. Autolus Therapeutics
Market (Symbol): NASDAQ Global Select Market (AUTL)
Amount: $160.4 million in aggregate net proceeds
Date: June 22
Shares/Price per share: 10,147,059 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) at $17
#4. Polyphor
Market (Symbol): SIX Swiss Exchange (POLN)
Amount: CHF 165.0 million ($166.3 million) in gross proceeds
Date: May 15
Shares/Price per share: 4,342,110 shares at CHF 38.00 ($38.30)
#3. MorphoSys
Market (Symbol): NASDAQ Global Market (MOR) 8
Amount: Approximately €177 million ($207.9 million) in net proceeds
Date: April 19
Shares/Price per share: 2.075 million new ordinary shares, consisting of 8.3 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) at $25.04 per ADS.
#2. Tricida
Market (Symbol): NASDAQ Global Select Market (TCDA)
Amount: Approximately $232.7 million in estimated net proceeds
Date: June 28
Shares/Price per share: 13,455,000 shares at $19
#1. WuXi AppTec
Market (Symbol): Shanghai Stock Exchange (603259)
Amount: RMB 2.251 billion ($339.4 million)
Date: May 7
Shares/Price per share: 104,198,600 shares at RMB 21.60 ($3.26)
Date: July 23, 2018
Source: genengnews