By Karen Pihl-Carey
Staff Writer
Maxygens shares continued to rise Friday to nearly $44 apiece, almost three times the amount the shares sold for Thursday in the companys initial public offering (IPO).
The company, based in Redwood City, Calif., offered 6 million shares at a price of $16 per share, raising gross proceeds of $96 million. Underwriters also have an option to sell an additional 900,000 shares for overallotments. If the overallotments are exercised in full, the company will have grossed $110.4 million.
Underwriters include Goldman, Sachs & Co., BancBoston Robertson Stephens Inc. and Invemed Associates Inc., all of New York.
Maxygen upped the number of shares offered, as well as the price, a few times since its original IPO filing in late October. In November, Maxygen priced its offering of 5.75 million shares, including 750,000 shares for overallotments, to sell at $11 to $13 each, for gross proceeds of as much as $74.75 million. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 8, 1999, p. 1.)
Then, last week, Maxygen amended the offering, indicating its intent to sell 6.325 million shares, including 825,000 shares for overallotments, at $15 apiece, for gross proceeds of $94.875 million.
The number of shares offered and their price climbed one more time on Thursday, when the offering was made and Maxygen officially became public. Its shares now trade on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol, MAXY.
The biotechnology company was a leader in the IPOs of the day, with its stock climbing 163 percent to close at $42.062, up $26.062 from the IPO price of $16. The company now has 29.4 million shares outstanding. The stock closed Friday at $43.25, up another $1.187, giving Maxygen a market valuation of $1.27 billion.
Glaxo Wellcome plc owns 5.46 million shares.
Maxygen was founded in May 1996 and employs 125 people. The company plans to use the IPO proceeds for research and development activities, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes.
The companys focus is on its proprietary technology, called MolecularBreeding, which consists of DNAShuffling recombination technologies and MaxyScan screening systems. It is conducting research on more than 35 product candidates for the chemical, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. Products include those to increase crop yield and quality, as well as those to serve as therapeutics of cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases.
Maxygen has several collaborations in place, including deals with Zeneca Agrochemicals, of London; Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., of Des Moines, Iowa; Novo Nordisk AS, of Bagsvaerd, Denmark; and DSM Anti-Infectives, of Delft, the Netherlands.