Versartis, a US-based biopharmaceutical company developing a treatment for growth hormone deficiency (GHD) backed by investors including pharmaceutical company Amunix, has raised $126m from its initial public offering.
The company sold 6 million shares priced at $21.00 each, all of which were bought by underwriters Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Global Markets, Cowen and Company and Canaccord Genuity. The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy an additional 900,000 shares, which would increase the proceeds to $144.9m.
Amunix co-founded Versartis in 2008 with venture capital firm Index Ventures, which invested the $11m that comprised Versartis’ series A round. Versartis has raised $132m in funding, most recently from a $55m series E round that closed last month that was supported by venture firms Sofinnova Ventures, Aisling Capital, New Leaf Venture Partners and Advent Life Sciences, all existing investors, and five undisclosed life science investment firms.
Amunix held a 6% stake in Versartis before the IPO and has retained 4.5% afterwards, with none of the external investors divesting shares. New Leaf will remain the company’s largest shareholder, owning 14.3% of its stock, down from 19.3%.
Versartis will use $65m of the proceeds to complete the Phase 3 clinical trial of VRS-317, its drug candidate for the treatment of paediatric GHD. The rest will be retained for working capital, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes, though the company admitted it will probably have to raise “substantial additional capital” to cover the costs of seeking approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, and manufacturing and marketing VRS-317 in future.