Fluidigm announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 5,558,333 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $13.50 per share.
The pricing comes in at the low end of the anticipated range of $13.50 to $15.50 that Fluidigm disclosed to potential investors in a prospectus filed late last month with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Fluidigm also said at the time that it anticipated offering 5,172,414 shares of its common stock.
Deutsche Bank and Piper Jaffray are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Cowen and Company and Leerink Swann acted as co-managers.
Fluidigm has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 833,750 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.
Fluidigm said that shares of its common stock have been approved to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "FLDM."
Fluidigm first disclosed its renewed IPO effort in early December, reviving plans for a public offering that the company put on hiatus in September 2008 amid the economic downturn (PCR Insider, 12/9/10).
In its December preliminary prospectus, Fluidigm said it intends to use net proceeds from the IPO for sales and marketing; to support ongoing product commercialization; for research and product-development activities; to expand its facilities and manufacturing operations; and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
The South San Francisco, Calif.-based company noted that it may also use a portion of its net proceeds to acquire and invest in complementary products, technologies, or businesses, although it currently has no such agreements or commitments in place.
Fluidigm plays primarily in the genetic analysis, PCR, digital PCR, and next-generation sequencing sample-prep markets. Its products include the BioMark and EP1 systems for digital PCR and SNP analysis; AccessArray platform for sample prep; and Dynamic Array, Digital Array, and Access Array microfluidic chips for use on its analysis systems.
The company also disclosed in December a previously undisclosed collaboration with Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics to develop digital PCR-based, non-invasive, prenatal molecular diagnostics, initially for fetal aneuploidies.