BridgeBio Pharma, the US-based Mendelian disease therapy developer backed by insurance group AIG, floated on the Nasdaq Global Market yesterday in an initial public offering sized at approximately $349m.
The offering consisted of 20.5 million shares issued at $17.00 each, above the IPO’s $14 to $16 range. The company also increased the number of shares in the offering from the 15 million figure it had set earlier this week.
The share price gave BridgeBio a valuation of just over $2bn. Its shares closed at $27.55 on their first day of trading.
Founded in 2015, BridgeBio has a pipeline of 15 programs in development for Mendelian diseases – illnesses triggered by a defect in a single gene – as well as cancers that have clear genetic drivers.
Up to $235m of the proceeds and BridgeBio’s existing cash reserves will fund development and potential commercialisation for three late-stage drug candidates: BBP-831, BBP-454 and BBP-631.
Between $55m and $65m will go to work on two more candidates, BBP-870 and BBP-589, which are in phase 2/3 and 1/2 trials respectively. Additional capital will support clinical development for other candidates, and potential acquisitions of external drug development programs.
The company had raised at least $480m in funding pre-IPO, $299m of which came in a January 2019 round co-led by KKR and Viking Global Investors and backed by AIG, Perceptive Advisors, Aisling Capital, Cormorant Capital, Sequoia Capital, Hercules Capital and an unnamed “blue-chip long-term investor”.
Viking Global and KKR had already co-led a $136m round for BridgeBio in 2017, investing alongside AIG, Perceptive Advisors, Aisling Capital, Cormorant Capital and Janus Funds.
AIG held a 6.8% stake in the company that was diluted to 5.7% in the offering. Its two largest shareholders are KKR (28,6% post-IPO) and Viking Global (18.4%).
Book-running managers JP Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, SVB Leerink, KKR Capital Markets, Piper Jaffray, Mizuho Securities USA, BMO Capital Markets and Raymond James have a 30-day option to buy almost 3.1 million more shares, which would take the IPO’s size to $401m.
