D-Pharm Ltd. yesterday successfully completed the public tender in its IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). The public offering was over-subscribed 10-fold. Together with a rights offering, the company raised NIS 85 million.
With the large over-subscription, D-Pharm priced the units of shares and warrants at a 15% above the minimum price, raising NIS 28 million, instead of the NIS 25 million originally planned. p>Clal Finance Ltd. (TASE:CLFN) is the chief underwriter for D-Pharm's offering, together with Rosario Underwriting Services (AS) Ltd. and Meitav Investment House Ltd.
Controlling shareholder, IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) unit Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. (TASE: CBI) diluted its holding in D-Pharm to 47%.
Arte Venture Group CEO Ruben Krupik said, "This is a unique offering because the current shareholders provided most of the financing. We gave the public the opportunity to participate, while taking most of the risk upon ourselves." Arte manages investments for Clal Biotechnology.
D-Pharm will use the proceeds to reach interim results of the Phase III clinical trial for its DP-b99 drug for strokes. D-Pharm CEO Dr. Dr. Alex Kozak said, "The IPO opens the door to the flotation of other companies in Israel, especially in the biotech industry. This industry is highly important to Israel's future, and I am glad that investors in Israel are prepared to invest in companies at an advanced stage of drug development."
Clal Biotechnology said that it was reviewing the effect of D-Pharm's IPO on its financial report. Clal Biotechnology today reported that it posted a profit of NIS 29.3 million for the second quarter, compared with a loss of NIS 38.8 million for the corresponding quarter of 2008.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 13, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009