US-based biopharmaceutical company Clovis Oncology priced the shares for its initial public offering (IPO) on 15th November, offering 10 million shares at $13.00 per share, raising a total of $130m. The underwriters were given a 30 day option to purchase an additional 1.5 million shares.
Founded in 2009 a year after its management team sold Pharmion for $2.9bn to peer Celgene, Clovis closed a $146m series A in May of that year funded by investment group Abingworth and venture capital (VC) investors Domain Associates, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Versant Ventures, Aberdare Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and ProQuest Investments. The series A round was followed by a $20m investment by drug company Pfizer, in June, as part of a licensing deal for anti-tumour treatments.
Post-IPO, Pfizer’s shares have dropped from 10.1% to around 5.5% of the overall total while the total held by Abingworth’s VC subsidiary Abingworth Bioventures has declined from 7.8% to 6%. Clovis’ largest organisational shareholders remain NEA which holds 15.8% and Domain, which holds 14.2%.
Clovis has allocated $105m of the proceeds to completing clinical trials for treatments it has developed, with the remainder going towards general working capital.
Clovis’s share price dropped on opening day to hover around the $12.50 mark before spiking yesterday. The stock price peaked at $13.42, then dropped back down to hold steady at $13.01.