By Prakhar Srivastava (Reuters) -MapLight Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech backed by Novo Holdings, said on Monday it is targeting a valuation of up to $704.3 million in its U.S. initial public offering, amid a rebound in investor appetite for new issues. The Redwood City, California-based firm plans to raise $250.8 million by offering 14.8 million […]
Health
Drug developer MapLight eyes $704.3 million valuation in US IPO
Audio By Carbonatix
By Prakhar Srivastava
(Reuters) -MapLight Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech backed by Novo Holdings, said on Monday it is targeting a valuation of up to $704.3 million in its U.S. initial public offering, amid a rebound in investor appetite for new issues.
The Redwood City, California-based firm plans to raise $250.8 million by offering 14.8 million shares priced at $17 apiece. The stock is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “MPLT.”
U.S. IPO activity has picked up in recent months, reversing a slowdown from earlier in the year — when trade-policy uncertainty curbed momentum — as recent listings have attracted strong investor demand.
“This is an opportunistic move by the company to tap the IPO market and to take advantage of the currently excellent climate for IPOs in general and biotech IPOs in particular,” Josef Schuster, CEO of IPO research firm IPOX.
Last month, biotech firm LB Pharmaceuticals was received warmly on its debut.
“The IPO also comes at a time of surging M&A activity in the sector, with recent deals for Metsera, Merus and SpringWorks Therapeutics by large pharma,” Schuster added.
MapLight is developing drugs for central nervous system disorders, especially schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, autism spectrum disorder and Parkinson’s disease.
The company is testing ML-007C-MA for schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s psychosis, and ML-004 for autism-related social difficulties.
Schuster said that these two product candidates, combined with renewed M&A interest in post-IPO biotechs, are likely to draw strong investor demand for the offering.
The company reported a net loss of $52.2 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $37.3 million a year earlier.
In July, MapLight raised about $372.5 million in a funding round co-led by Forbion and Life Sciences at Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Leerink Partners and Stifel are the underwriters for the offering.
(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Alan Barona)