Check-Cap, which is developing a pill that conducts an X-ray scan of the intestine (as a substitute for diagnostic colonscopy, and in competition with the intestinal camera-in-a-pill developed by Given Imaging, now part of Medtronic), has submitted a draft prospectus to raise $15 million on Nasdaq. The company value for the offering was not disclosed, but is expected to be a little more than $100 million, before money.
This may make Check-Cap the first biomedical company to conduct an offering on Nasdaq in 2015. The biomedical issues market on Nasdaq has cooled off a little in recent months, but many prospectuses are still being filed. As a medical equipment company, Check-Cap faces a more difficult challenge, because its field is less hot on Nasdaq this year, compared with pharmaceutical companies. Its company value, however, is also less ambitious than that of the pharma companies that made offerings this year.
The company comes to its IPO equipped with a $12 million investment, led by Chinese company Fosun Pharma, which currently owns 13.9% of Check-Cap. Other investors in Check-Cap include GE Healthcare (12%); the Pontifax (25%), BRX (9.7%), Docor (8.5%), and Biomedix Incubator Ltd. (TASE:BMDX) (6.1%) funds; the Jacobs family (5.4%), and Emigrant Ventures (5.3%). Founding entrepreneur and CTO Yoav Kimchy owns 12%, and CEO Guy Neev 5.3%. Capital Point Ltd. (TASE:CPTP) is also a shareholder in the company, but below the reporting threshold.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 24, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014