By Mary Welch

Diversa Corp. filed a registration statement for an initial public offering (IPO) in the hopes of raising $85 million for research and development, capital expenditures and possible future acquisitions.

The number of shares offered and the price range were not included in the SEC filing and will be determined later by the company and its underwriters. All shares are being sold by Diversa along with underwriters Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., Deutsche Banc Alex.Brown and Hambrecht & Quist LLC, all of New York. Bear Stearns is the lead managing underwriter.

According to its filing, Diversa had 72.7 million shares of common stock outstanding as of Nov. 15, with funds affiliated with HealthCare Ventures LLC., of Princeton, N.J., owning 16.5 million shares, or 22.6 percent of the company. Owning 18.3 percent of the company¿s stock, or 13.3 million shares, are funds affiliated with Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., of New York.

According to the filing, Diversa, which develops enzymes and other biologically active compounds for a variety of pharmaceutical and agricultural applications, had total revenues of $6.5 million for the six months that ended Sept. 30. For 1998, the company posted total revenues of $1.3 million. For the first nine months of 1999, it posted a net loss of $5.8 million. As of Sept. 30, the company had $9.8 million in cash and $24.8 million in pro forma cash.

The company applies its fully integrated and proprietary processes to obtain previously unaccessed genetic material from uncultured organisms found in natural environments. The company¿s processes speed the discovery and development of commercially valuable new enzymes and biologically active small molecules, it said.

The company has commercialized its first product, Pyrolase 160, for the oil and gas services industry, and has 42 other projects with multiple production applications. The company is working to discover small-molecule compounds as antimicrobials, antifungals, antivirals and other therapeutics.

The company said it can screen its libraries using methods that can analyze more than 1 billion genes per day, then optimize selected enzymes and compounds by applying its DirectEvolution genetic modification technologies.

Among Diversa¿s collaborators are Novartis AG agricultural companies, The Dow Chemical Co. and Rhone-Poulenc Animal Nutrition.