By Mary Welch

Sangamo BioSciences Inc. raised $52.50 million in its initial public offering by selling 3.5 million shares at $15 each.

The $48.8 million net proceeds are considerably less than the Point Richmond, Calif. company originally sought. In its registration statement, Sangamo indicated it was looking to raise about $100 million in order to increase the company¿s capitalization and financial flexibility. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 14, 2000, p. 1.)

In later registration filings, Sangamo stated it wanted to sell its 5 million shares for $15 to $17 each, which would produce between $75 million to $85 million in gross proceeds. As it turned out, Sangamo reduced the number of shares to 3.5 million and set the price at the low end.

Lehman Brothers Inc., of New York, was the lead underwriter. Other participating underwriters were: Chase H&Q and ING Barings LLC, both of New York, and William Blair & Co. LLC, of Chicago. The underwriters have the option to purchase an additional 750,000 shares to cover overallotments.

Sangamo develops novel transcription factors for the regulation of gene expression. Transcription factors are proteins that turn genes on or off by recognizing specific DNA sequences. The company¿s Universal Gene Recognition technology platform enables the engineering of a class of transcription factors known as zinc finger DNA binding proteins, or ZFPs.

By engineering ZFPs so that they can selectively bind to and regulate a target gene, Sangamo has created ZFP transcription factors that can control gene expression, and as a result, cell function. The company intends to establish Universal Gene Recognition as a broadly used technology platform for commercial applications in pharmaceutical discovery, human therapeutics, DNA diagnostics, and agricultural and industrial biotechnology.

After the offering, Sangamo will have about 20.8 million shares outstanding. As of Dec. 31, the company had $7.3 million in cash, and posted 1999 revenues of $2.2 million. Net loss for last year was $3.4 million.

Sangamo BioSciences¿ stock (NASDAQ:SGMO) closed Thursday at $15.062, up 6.25 cents.