Gevo, an US-based developer of biofuels backed by French oil major Total’s corporate venturing unit, has raised $107.25m at its Nasdaq flotation with an initial market capitalisation of $373m at the top end of its range.
The company sold 7.15 million common shares at its initial public offering (IPO) at $15 each, according to Gevo’s regulatory filing. Investment banks UBS, Piper Jaffray and Citigroup can also sell a further 1.1 million shares if there is enough demand.
None of the main shareholders are selling any stock at the IPO, with Total’s Energy Ventures International unit being diluted from 9.9% to 7.1% after the IPO.
Venture capital firm Khosla Ventures is the largest shareholder with 37.6% pre-IPO (26.8% post-flotation), followed by conglomerate Virgin’s Green Fund’s 14.8% (10.5% post), investment bank Burrill (8.8%), the Malaysian state’s Life Sciences Capital Fund and rubber corporation Lanxess.
However, Total and Lanxess said they would be interested in buying more shares at the IPO to avoid their dilution.
Total invested $5m in Gevo’s $32.6m series D1 round completed in May at $17.12 per share. The early D round in August 2009 raised the same amount at $7.04 per share. Its previous round raised $25m from August 2005.