CureVac, a premier candidate in the rush to produce a drug to fight COVID-19, on Monday said it was planning to list on NASDAQ in a $245 million initial public offering.
In a statement, the German biotech group said it is looking to offer around 15.33 million shares, priced at from $14 to $16 each. In its application, CureVac said it will trade its stocks under the symbol "CVAC."
Credit Suisse, Jefferies, and Bank of America will be CureVac's joint book-runners. Kempen & Co and Berenberg will act as the pharmaceutical's passive book-running managers, CureVac said.
CureVac is advancing a host of vaccine and gene therapy development for large and rare diseases. The company said it will use the money from the initial bid to finance the development of an mRNA-based coronavirus drug, boost its production capacity, and accelerate its oncology and rabies vaccine development, on top of other programs, the statement said.
The biotech group, which was founded in 2000 and earned $20 million in total sales for the four quarters ended March 31 in the same year, is also looking at securing $118 million more in a concurrent private venture with insider Dietmar Hopp. At the midpoint of the planned placement, CureVac would be valued at around $2.6 billion.
Results of CureVac's Phase 3 clinical test for a COVID-19 treatment will be released in the fourth quarter this year. Its initial public offering is already getting strrong investor support, the company said.
The German group is run by operating systems company SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp, who agreed to acquired shares valued at around $117 million at the IPO.
CureVac, which includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as major investors, had initially proposed to list on the U.S. exchange on July 24.
The German government, British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and the Qatar Investment Authority recently formed part of CureVac's roster of key investors.
Other major CureVac investors include Dievini Hopp BioTech and Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau, and GSK Ltd, who have all invested around $472 million with the company.
