US-based plant-breeding technology developer Cibus has filed to raise up to $100m in an initial public offering that will enable life sciences property manager Alexandria Real Estate Equities to exit.
Cibus uses gene-editing technology to breed agricultural crops with more desirable traits, without utilising foreign genetic material. It made a $25.2m net loss in the first nine months of 2018 from $2.6m in revenue.
The company has developed rice, potato, flax and canola crop platforms, and the IPO proceeds will fund development of corn, wheat, peanut and soybean products.
Additional proceeds will go to upgrading of the company’s technological capabilities in areas such as automation and laboratory data systems, in addition to strengthening its commercial activities and supporting everyday seed production.
The offering will follow approximately $189m in financing according to press releases and securities filings, the most recent of which was a $70m series C round in June this year that included Alexandria’s venture capital arm, Alexandria Venture Investments.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity Management and Research led the round, which included hedge fund sponsor Cormorant Asset Management.
Cibus has not disclosed firm details of the sizes of the stakes held by any of its investors but the IPO filing states that BV Partners and the estate of Richard Spizzirri are the only entities that own stakes sized at 5% or higher.
Morgan Stanley and BofA Merrill Lynch are joint book-running managers for the IPO, which is slated to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market. Piper Jaffray is also involved, as a passive book-running manager.
