Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) is embarking on an equity offering. The company, whose share price has risen sharply since it announced positive initial results of a cancer treatment trial and expansion of its collaboration agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, in contrast to general market slide, announced today that it has commenced an underwritten public offering, subject to market and other conditions, to issue and sell its ordinary shares.
The company is offering of 8,333,334 ordinary shares at a price to the public of $9.00 per share. The gross proceeds to Compugen from the offering are expected to be approximately $75 million. Compugen has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,250,000 ordinary shares, at the public offering price less underwriting discounts and commissions. The offering is expected to close on or about March 16, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.
SVB Leerink and Stifel are acting as joint bookrunning managers for the offering.
Compugen's share price rose by more than 20% this morning to NIS 42, or $11.60 at the current exchange rate, amid falls of more than 8% in the main indices on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In new York yesterday's Compugen closed at $11.83, giving it a market cap of $694 million. The company's share price has almost tripled in the past six months.
Compugen, headed by Anat Cohen-Dayag, is a clinical-stage therapeutic discovery and development company. It uses predictive computational discovery platforms to identify novel drug targets and develop therapeutics in the field of cancer immunotherapy. The company’s lead product candidate, COM701, a first-in-class anti-PVRIG antibody, for the treatment of solid tumors, is undergoing a Phase 1 clinical study. In addition, COM902, Compugen’s antibody targeting TIGIT, is expected to enter the clinic in early 2020.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 12, 2020
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