US-based biopharmaceutical company Merrimack Pharmaceuticals has postponed its initial public offering (IPO) due to unsuitable market conditions, according to independent IPO researcher Renaissance Capital, which reported the news on Tuesday.
Merrimack set the range for its IPO at $8 per share to $10 per share on 13th of January, with pricing due on the 30th. Just under $16.7 million shares were due to be offered, and Merrimack expected to raise up to $191m.
The main institutional shareholders in Merrimack are financial services firm Fidelity Investments, which holds 7.0%, the Credit Suisse-owned Next Fund, with 6.1%, investment management firm Fred Alger Management (5.5%) and hedge fund sponsor TPG-Axon Capital (5.3%).
Additional investors in Merrimack are real estate management firm Sorenson Group, private equity firm Wharton Partners, venture capital firm Crocker Ventures, investment management firm Jennison Associates, and the WT Investments Advisors Fund.
Founded in 1993 as Atlantic Biopharmaceuticals, Merrimack develops drug treatments and accompanying diagnostics with a particular focus on the treatment of cancer.
Merrimack’s most recent equity funding came care of a $77m series G round in April last year, just prior to it acquiring the rights to commercialise and develop a cancer drug known as MM-398 in Europe and Asia, from Taiwan-based pharmaceutical company PharmaEngine. Merrimack filed for an IPO two months after.
Much of the cash raised from the IPO has been earmarked for clinical trials for MM-398, with further funds expected to finance ongoing clinical trials for Merrimack’s other drug candidates. Merrimack was unavailable for comment at time of publication.
The underwriters for the offering, which were to be given the chance to purchase a further 2.5 million shares for a 30 day period, are JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Cowen and Company, and Oppenheimer & Co.