Gossamer Bio launched the roadshow for its US$230m IPO this morning and brought forward its planned pricing date now that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is back up and running after the protracted government shutdown.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, SVB Leerink, Barclays and Evercore now expect to price Gossamer’s IPO next Thursday February 7, abandoning an earlier workaround to the shut down that would have seen the deal price on February 12 instead.
The deal terms are unchanged from 14.4m shares at a fixed price of US$16, as announced while the shutdown was ongoing last week.
The SEC had been unable to process registration statements and declare effectiveness during the 35 days that the US government was closed.
Gossamer last week removed the so-called “delaying amendment”, started a 20-day clock that would have seen it get automatic effectiveness on February 12.
But the reopening of the SEC at the weekend meant this lenghty wait was no longer necessary.
Gossamer has already done extensive pre-marketing with investors, while existing shareholders are putting in for up to US$100m, or 43% of the deal.
The company’s target valuation is only 10% higher than what the existing shareholders paid in a US$230m private placement last July.
With the IPO proceeds, Gossamer expects to have US$467m of cash for clinical trials of its portfolio of immunology, inflammation and oncology drugs.
Its most advanced product is in Phase IIb trials as a treatment for severe asthma. Gossamer also has four other drugs that are being tested for safety in Phase I trials.
