AAA Crispr’s IPO hopes cool as it raises $56m

Crispr’s IPO hopes cool as it raises $56m

Crispr Therapeutics, a Switzerland-based gene editing technology developer backed by pharmaceutical companies Bayer, Vertex, Celgene and GlaxoSmithKline, raised $56m when it floated on Nasdaq yesterday.

The company priced 4 million shares for the initial public offering on Tuesday, down from the 4.7 million it had initially intended to issue, at $14 each, below the $15 to $17 range it set last week. Its shares debuted at $15.00 and closed at $14.09 after the first day of trading.

Bayer Global Investments, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Bayer and an existing backer, will invest another $35m in Crispr through a concurrent private placement.

Crispr is working on a range of therapeutics for various diseases which will use Crispr/Cas9 gene editing technology to disrupt, correct or regulate genes related to the disease.

The company will invest $20m of the IPO proceeds in advancing treatments for haemoglobinopathy, a condition that affects red blood cells, and a further $40m on additional pipeline candidates. It will put $10m toward improving its gene editing platform and delivery technologies.

The IPO comes after $200m of venture funding across two rounds from investors including Bayer Global Investments, GlaxoSmithKline subsidiary SR One, Celgene and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Versant Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Abingworth, Franklin Templeton Investments, New Leaf Venture Partners, funds advised by Clough Capital Partners and Wellington Capital Management have also backed Crispr.

Bayer will increase its stake in Crispr from 8% to 13% through its investment, while all other investors will have their stakes diluted in the IPO. Celgene’s will be cut from 12.4% to 10.3%, SR One’s from 9.7% to 8% and Vertex’s from 7.6% to 6.3%.

Other notable investors post-IPO include Versant, which will come through with a 17.1% share, NEA (8%) and Abingworth (6.5%).

Citigroup, Piper Jaffray and Barclays are joint book-running managers for the offering while Guggenheim Securities is co-manager. They have a 30-day option to buy another 600,000 shares, which would boost the IPO size to $64.4m.

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