Verastem (VSTM) goes Public
Verastem (VSTM) will start trading on the NASDAQ … today, 1/27.12 … having completed an initial public offering (IPO) that raises $55M and values the 1year-old, venture-backed biotech at over $120M.
IPO raised $55M from the sale of 5.5M shares at $10 apiece. The price fell precisely in the middle of its range, qualifying it among companies in this sector. Verastem had actually upped the offering by a million shares over what had originally been planned.
The Bottom Line: VSTM lead candidate is a molecule called VS-507, which is being designed to kill breast cancer stem cells. The VSTM offering prospectus noted that investors had agreed to buy up to $16.3M of the offering, a common ploy among the developers which have pulled off the occasional successful IPO over the past 3 years. With more than 19M common shares outstanding, the offering values Verastem at $192M. The share count is up from the 4.5M shares, VSTM expected to offer. Among its biggest shareholders are venture capital investors Longwood Founders Fund, Cardinal Partners, MPM Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. A good indicator for the regenerative medicine/stem cell universe, that … investment is still viable and available …. in this market!
