NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – CRISPR Therapeutics today priced its previously announced initial public offering of 4 million shares at $14 per share.
Shares of the Basel, Switzerland-based firm will begin trading on the Nasdaq today under ticker symbol "CRSP." The pricing sets a ceiling of $56 million for the IPO, though the company is also making 600,000 shares available to the IPO underwriters, which would bring the total value to no more than $64.4 million. The firm expects the offering to close on Oct. 24.
CRISPR Therapeutics is the third CRISPR/Cas9-related firm to go public this year, following Editas Medicine and Intellia Therapeutics. However, the company's $56 million IPO haul is significantly less than the $94.4 million and $108 million raised by Editas and Intellia, respectively. The firm was co-founded by pioneering CRISPR researcher Emmanuelle Charpentier of Berlin's Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology.
In addition to the shares sold in the public offering, CRISPR Therapeutics announced that Bayer Global Investments will purchase an additional 2.5 million shares in a private placement at a price equal to the offering price. Bayer Global Investments is an existing shareholder and an affiliate of Bayer HealthCare, a joint venture partner with CRISPR Therapeutics.
Bayer has also licensed CRISPR/Cas9 technology from ERS Genomics, a holding firm for Charpentier's CRISPR patent rights, which are currently part of an intellectual property dispute with the Broad Institute in the US.
Citigroup, Piper Jaffray and Barclays are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Guggenheim Securities is acting as co-manager.