NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – AutoGenomics has pulled its initial public offering.
On Wednesday, the Vista, Calif.-based company filed papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the "immediate withdrawal" of its registration statement for its IPO.
No reason was given for the decision.
The molecular diagnostics firm filed for its IPO nearly three years ago, and last summer amended its S-1 filing, but never offered a price range for its shares in a potential offering, although it said that the maximum aggregate offering price was $86.3 million. Its CEO, Fareed Kureshy, told GenomeWeb Daily News last year that AutoGenomics had no intention of pulling its IPO but had determined along with the underwriters for the IPO that there was no clear market, or after-market for his company.
As a result, the company was waiting "for the right opportunity in the marketplace so that there is a strong demand" for the IPO, Kureshy said.
The underwriters on the offering were Jefferies & Co., R.W. Baird, and Stifel Nicolaus Weisel.
In the past year, other life science tools firms, such as Pacific Biosciences and Complete Genomics, have successfully completed their IPOs, but the market remains a challenging one. In addition to AutoGenomics, other firms that have pulled their IPOs recently include Atossa Genetics and Rules-Based Medicine — though RBM is now being acquired by Myriad Genetics in an $80 million deal.