Is Alnylam Hit Too Hard Over Secondary Offering? (ALNY)

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) may have interrupted its rally with a proposed offering of 7 million shares of common stock, but it least did this when shares were close to highs rather than lows of the last year.  Tonight should bring a formal; pricing of the offering.  Shares are down 9.3% at $11.23 after a $12.39 close on Monday.  The 52-week range is $5.88 to $13.25.

What is interesting is that J.P. Morgan is the sole book-running manager.  The biotech outfit is not widely followed and it could have used the secondary to buy analyst coverage via increasing the size of its underwriting syndicate.

The company is working on novel therapeutics based on RNA interference and has formed partnerships or alliances with drug giants such as Merck, Medtronic, Novartis, Biogen Idec, Roche, Takeda, GlaxoSmithKline, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, and Cubist.  Attached is the company’s pipeline and program sheet.

Gross proceeds today before fees and discounts would be nearly $80 million, and the market capitalization after today’s 9% drop is $480 million.

JON C. OGG