US-based biopharmaceutical company FibroGen raised $145.8m from its initial public offering on Friday, issuing 8.1 million shares priced at $18.00 each.
Founded in 1993, FibroGen is developing therapeutics to meet serious unmet medical needs, and its lead product candidate is a treatment for anaemia in chronic kidney disease. It intends to use the proceeds to commercialise its unpartnered product candidates.
Pharmaceutical company Astellas remains FibroGen’s second largest shareholder, behind chairman and CEO Thomas B. Neff. It holds an 8.8% stake, diluted from 10.5% in the IPO. FibroGen raised raised about $209m in funding between 2002 and 2007, according to SEC filings.
Another pharmaceutical firm, AstraZeneca, invested $20m in FibroGen in a private placement concurrent to the offering, which gave it a 5.7% stake.
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Global Markets and Leerink Partners are the joint book-running managers of the IPO, while RBC Capital Markets, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company and William Blair & Company are the co-managers.
The underwriters have the 30-day option to acquire another 1.2 million FibroGen’s shares, which would raise the proceeds from the offering to $167.7m.