Bluebird Bio, a US-based gene therapy specialist, plans to float on the Nasdaq stock exchange with a market capitalization of about $328m.
Bluebird plans to offer 5 million shares at between $14 and $16 each, with a further $750,000 shares available if demand is strong.
Investment banks JP Morgan and BoA Merrill Lynch are Bluebird’s lead underwriters for the initial public offering (IPO), with legal counsel from Goodwin Procter and Ropes & Gray.
Bluebird Bio posted a $6.5m net loss on $1.1m of revenue in the first three months of the year.
Bluebird Bio has raised around $130 million in VC funding, from Third Rock Ventures (28.1% pre-IPO stake), TVM Capital (14.3%), Fidelity Investments (11.8%), Arch Venture Partners (10.6%), Capital Research & Management Co. (9.2%), Forbion Capital Partners (7.4%), Deerfield Partners, RA Capital, Ramius Capital Group and Shire PLC.
In August last year, Bluebird Bio has raised $60m in a Series D financing round, backed by UK and US-listed pharmaceutical company Shire, which owns less than 5%.
Financial investors Arch Venture Partners (10.6%), Third Rock Ventures (28.1% pre-IPO stake), TVM Capital (14.3%), Fidelity Investments (11.8%), Capital Research & Management Co. (9.2%), Forbion Capital Partners (7.4%), Deerfield Partners, RA Capital and Ramius Capital also invested.
The close of the round raised the total venture investment in Bluebird to more than an estimated $125m. Boston-based life science investor Third Rock, Netherlands-based life science investor Forbion, Munich-based venture firm TVM, and NY-based investment group Easton Capital all participated in a $35m Series B funding in March 2010 and a $30m venture round in April 2011. They were joined by corporate venture capital fund Genzyme Ventures, the venture unit of pharmaceutical company Genzyme Corporation, and venture firm ARCH Venture Partners in the separate rounds respectively.
Bluebird in its regulatory filing said Sanofi/Genzyme and Shire had made “equity investments of $8m in the aggregate in our company, and we have partnered with Celgene Corporation in the field of oncology”.
Cowen Group was strategic adviser on the financing and is junior underwriter on the IPO.