IPO Preview: The Flood Abates for a Week
April 19, 2014 by Paul AusickIt’s worth noting that among last week’s IPOs, several priced at or below the expected range. The most prominent of these was Weibo Corp. (NASDAQ: WB), the Chinese Twitter, went out at $17 a share, the bottom of its range and started trading below that number before rebounding to $20.24. Investment bank Moelis & Co. (NYSE: MC) priced its IPO at $25, below the expected range of $26 to $29, and Opus Bank (NASDAQ: OP:B) priced fewer-than-expected shares at $30, below the anticipated range of $31 to $34. Moelis closed Thursday at $26.09, off 0.2%. Opus finished at $29.44, off 1.9% after two days of trading.
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Delayed from last week is Quotient Ltd., a commercial-stage medical diagnostics firm, that plans to offer 5 million shares in its IPO. The problem was pricing: The company’s original range was $14 to $16, but that proved too high. The new projected range is $9 to $11. Shares are expected to price on Monday and begin trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “QTNT”.
Scynexis Inc. was first scheduled to launch at the end of March. The company is a development stage pharmaceutical firm currently developing a treatment for fungal infections in humans. The company originally planned to offer 4.2 million shares in an estimated price range of $12 to $14 a share. Now the company is looking at pricing 7.33 million shares in a price range of $7 to $8 a share. No firm date has been set for the IPO. Once launched, Scynexis will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “SCYX”. Lead underwriters are RBC Capital Markets and Canaccord Genuity Inc.
Aldeyra Therapeutics is a development stage biotechnology company working on immune-mediated diseases thought to be caused by naturally occurring toxins known as free aldehydes. The company is planning to begin clinical testing for one such product this year.
Aldeyra plans to offer 2.3 million shares in a price range of $10 to $12. Aegis Capital is the underwriter of the offering, expected to price on Thursday and begin trading on Friday. Shares will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ALDX”.
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