NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Helicos for the second time in a week ratcheted down its share price for its planned initial public offering, cutting the price of its shares to $9 — a 40-percent drop from the high end of its original plan — according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission today.
Earlier this week, the company cut the price of the 5.4 million shares it is offering to between $10 and $11 per share from an original projection of between $13 and $15 per share, according to an earlier SEC filing.
Helicos now expects to raise about $43.2 million in net proceeds from the IPO, and as much as $50 million if underwriters fully exercise an over-allotment option.
The firm's adjusted capitalization also was cut to $66.7 million to reflect the lower proceeds.
Helicos said it plans to use about $20 million of the proceeds to develop its HeliScope system and its tSMS technology.
The remaining $20 million or so will pay for sales, marketing, and manufacturing efforts for the HeliScope.
In a prospectus filed on May 7, Helicos initially estimated it would price its shares in the $13 to $15 range, but on May 23 the company reduced that range to between $10 and $11 per share.
As GenomeWeb Daily News reported at the time, if the Helicos IPO is successful the firm will become the only publicly traded pure-play next-generation sequencing company.