AbCellera Rockets 260%, 4D Molecular Up 92% as Flurry of Health-Care IPOs Begin Trading
Four health-care companies make their trading debuts on Nasdaq today: Certara, AbCellera Biologics, 4D Molecular Therapeutics, and Vivos Therapeutics.
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The red-hot market for IPOs, which has delivered huge deals from Airbnb and DoorDash this week, isn’t done yet. AbCellera Biologics, one of four health-care companies going public Friday, saw its shares soar nearly 260% in its debut.
The companies opening for trading share some common qualities. All four increased the size of their deals, all are trading on the Nasdaq, and three of the four priced above their expected ranges.
AbCellera’s stock (ticker: ABCL) opened Friday at $61, more than triple its $20 IPO price. Shares hit a high of $71.91 and recently changed hands at $63.83, up 219%.
The strong performance came after AbCellera Biologics collected $483 million late Thursday. The company sold 24.2 million shares at $20 each, up from the 23 million at $14 to $17 it was expected to sell.
AbCellera isn’t a biotech, but it provides an artificial-intelligence-powered R&D platform that helps speed drug discovery. The company, which is backed by Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal Holdings (PYPL) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR), is also profitable. AbCellera reported $1.9 million in income for the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $570,000 for the period a year ago.
Credit Suisse, Stifel, Berenberg, SVB Leerink, and BMO Capital Markets are the lead underwriters.
Certara (CERT) also began trading Friday, with shares rising as much as 63%. The stock opened at $29.90, hit a high of $37.53, and recently traded at $34.18, up 48.61%
Certara raised about $668.3 million late Thursday. The company sold 29,055,000 shares at $23 each, up from the 24,390,000 shares at $19 to $22 it had planned to sell. Jefferies, Morgan Stanley, and BofA Securities are the lead underwriters on the deal.
Certara provides biosimulation software to create virtual trials that use virtual patients to predict how drugs behave in different people. Certara is profitable, reporting $5 million in income for the nine months ended Sept. 30.
4D Molecular Therapeutics (FDMT) also opened for trading Friday, with shares soaring as much as 92%. The stock opened at $36.89, hit a high of $44.25, and recently traded at $43.21, up 88%.
4D Molecular delivered its soaring debut after collecting $193.2 million. Late Thursday, the company sold 8.4 million shares at $23 each. 4D initially offered to sell 4,761,904 shares at $20 to $22, which was increased Thursday to 7 million shares at $22 to $23. Lead underwriters on the deal are Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, and Evercore ISI.
4D is developing gene therapies for diseases in three areas: ophthalmology (the eye), cardiology (the heart), and pulmonology (respiratory). The biotech isn’t profitable, reporting a loss of $36.1 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $33.2 million for the period in 2019, a prospectus said.
Finally, Vivos Therapeutics (VVOS) made its public markets debut, with the stock soaring as much as 140%. Shares opened at $6.80, hit a high of $14.41, and are trading at $9.03, up 55%. The deal is much smaller than the others trading Friday, but no less interesting. Vivos sold 3.5 million shares at $6 each, raising $21 million. This is up from the 3,333,334 shares at $5 to $7 each it had planned to sell. Roth Capital Partners is the lead underwriter on the deal.
Vivos is a medical technology company that is developing products to treat sleep breathing disorders like obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA. Nearly one billion people suffer from sleep apnea globally. Vivos isn’t profitable. The company had a loss of $5.8 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with $8.1 million for the period a year earlier, a prospectus said.
Write to Luisa Beltran at [email protected]
