Pharmasset announces details of its IPO
Pharmasset , based in Tucker, announced they have priced five million common shares at $9 per share, for an IPO of roughly $45 million. It had originally filed to sell six million shares at between $12 and $14 per share.
Phramasset is developing drugs to fight viral diseases. I love their new NASDAQ ticker - VRUS. Very memorable.
The company had raised $55M in VC funding since it was founded in 1998. Investors include MPM Capital (25.6%), TVM Capital (11.7%), Burrill & Co. (11.1%) and MDS Capital (8.1%).
It’s great to see another local technology company go public!
Update: A few people have wrote to me to let me know that Pharmasset moved from Tucker to New Jersey over a year ago.
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:
Pharmasset Inc., a pharmaceutical company founded by Schinazi that develops antiviral drugs for HIV and hepatitis, announced in late July that it is moving its headquarters from Tucker to Princeton, N.J. Pharmasset officials said “access to experienced pharmaceutical talent” was the key factor in the decision to move.
“This is one of the largest pharmaceutical talent pools in the nation and our ability to attract and retain these people is extremely important,” said Alan Roemer, Pharmasset’s vice president of finance and investor relations. “It was pretty clear that this was what we needed to do at this point in the company’s growth.”
The company also reportedly got a $1.7 million grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority for the relocation, highlighting the competitive challenges Georgia faces in recruiting and retaining biotech companies.
“They’re getting money from New Jersey, they’re not getting money from Atlanta,” Schinazi said. “There should be more of a mind-set to keep these companies. It’s not enough just to grow them, you also need to retain them.”
Roemer acknowledged that Atlanta was a good place to grow Pharmasset in its early years.
“Clearly Atlanta has a strong research community with the universities, the CDC and other institutions all supporting biotechnology, and the biotech community in Atlanta is very focused and supportive,” Roemer said.
