Biocartis, a Belgium-based molecular diagnostics company backed by several corporates, has raised €100m ($111m) from an initial public offering in Brussels, floating at the top of its range.
The company issued almost 8.7 million shares on the Euronext Brussels market priced at €11.50 per share. The IPO valued it at €450m.
Founded in 2007, Biocartis is developing molecular diagnostics technology centred on its IdyllaTM platform that can provide real-time molecular information from any biological sample.
Half the IPO proceeds will be used by Biocartis to research and launch new assays, some of which will be developed in collaboration with partners including healthcare product maker Johnson & Johnson and diagnostics company Abbott Molecular.
Additional proceeds will go to expanding its sales and marketing team and further developing IdyllaTM.
The company secured $85m from Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Hitachi Chemical Corporation and Flemish state-backed investment fund PMV Tina Fund in September 2014.
The round, raised to support the commercial roll-out of IdyllaTM in Europe, brought Biocartis’ total funding to approximately $316m and boosted Johnson & Johnson’s stake to 16.3%, making it the company’s largest shareholder. It paid almost €14.3m for 1.24 million shares in the offering and will retain a 15.3% stake.
Other notable shareholders include diagnostics company Debiopharm Diagnostics (an 11.7% share post-IPO), genetics technology provider TopBio (4.5%), diversified technology producer Philips (2.8%), biotechnology company BioMérieux (2.4%) and Hitachi Chemical, which bought around 400,000 shares in the IPO to increase its stake from 3.4% to 3.6%.
Flemish state-backed funds PMV Tina (4.6% post-IPO) and ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen (1.1%) are also shareholders, as is venture capital firm Coöperatieve Aescap Venture (3.6%).
KBC Securities was sole global coordinator for the offering, also acting as joint bookrunner with Kempen & Co and Petercam. Biocartis floated on Monday and its stock stands at €12.53 at time of publication.