Merus, a Netherlands-based immuno-oncology treatment developer backed by pharmaceutical companies Novo, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, raised $55m on Thursday in an initial public offering in the US.
The company issued 5.5 million shares priced at $10 each, below the $14 to $16 range it set earlier this month, though it upped the number of shares in the offering from 4.3 million. It initially filed to raise up to $60m in October 2015.
Merus is working on antibody therapeutics to treat cancer, and will put $31m of the IPO proceeds toward advancing two of its drug candidates through phase 1/2 trials. It also hopes to complete preclinical studies for a third candidate, which will target colorectal cancer.
The offering followed €49.7m ($55m) of series C financing supplied in 2015 by Novartis and Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries Novartis Bioventures and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, as well as Novo, Pfizer, Sofinnova Venture Partners, Baker Brothers, Bay City Capital, Aglaia Biomedical Ventures and Life Sciences Partners affiliate Coöperatief LSP.
Merus had previously received €21.7m in series B financing in 2010 from Pfizer, Novartis Option Fund, Bay City Capital, LSP and Aglaia Oncology Fund, before JJDC joined them to extend the round by €31m three years later.
Undisclosed existing investors in Merus have declared interest in buying $32.5m of shares in the offering, but have not made a firm commitment.
Novartis Bioventures and Bay City Capital remain the company’s largest investors, despite their stakes being diluted from 14.6% to 9.4%. Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC’s share was diluted from 10.5% to 6.8%, Pfizer’s from 9.7% to 6.3% and Novo’s from 7.1% to 4.6%.
Other notable shareholders include Aglaia Oncology Fund (a 7.2% stake post-IPO), Sofinnova Venture Partners (4.9%), Coöperatief LSP (4.7%) and Baker Brothers Life Sciences (4.2%).
Citigroup Global Markets and Jefferies are joint book-running managers for the IPO, while Guggenheim Securities is lead manager and Wedbush PacGrow co-manager. They have a 30-day option to buy another 825,000 shares, lifting the size of the IPO to approximately $63.3m.