Arcellx (ACLX), a cancer-focused biotech, shot up to $19 at its opening trade on Friday (Feb. 4, 2022) – up $4 from its IPO price – in its NASDAQ debut. Arcellx priced its IPO on Thursday (Feb. 3, 2022) at $15 – the low end of its $15-to-$17 range – on 8.25 million shares. The biotech IPO raised $123.75 million. Arcellx closed at $16.80, up $1.80 for a gain of 12 percent from its IPO price. This was the first IPO to land on the February IPO Calendar – just as Wall Street was digging out from a blizzard over the weekend. Arcellx filed terms on Monday morning (Jan. 31, 2022) – an encouraging sign after a wild stock market and several IPO postponements in January. (Editor’s Note: The column was updated Friday morning, Feb. 4, and after Friday’s closing bell with news on the pricing of the Arcellx IPO and news on this week’s SPAC pricings.)
BofA Securities, SVB Leerink, Barclays and William Blair are the joint book-runners of the Arcellx IPO.
Arcellx, based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is developing a new class of T-cell therapy with its lead product candidate, CART-ddBCMA, to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The company reported positive preliminary results from its ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of CART-ddBCMA at a presentation at the 2021 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, according to the prospectus.
Arcellx has not generated any revenue. Its net loss for the last 12 months is about $53.4 million.
The company does not have any licenses or collaborations. Takeda Ventures, a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, is among the principal stockholders, according to the prospectus.
Bankers raised a total of $237.62 million from four IPOs priced this week, including the Arcellx deal. The other three IPOs priced this week were: Maris-Tech Ltd. (MTEK), a tiny IPO from an Israeli company that makes remote video and audio surveillance equipment; Silver Spike Investment Corp. (SSIC), a modest IPO for a closed-end management company that intends to provide financing to middle-market cannabis companies, and Nuvectis Pharma (NVCT), a tiny IPO for a biotech focused on developing drugs to treat ovarian and endometrial cancer.
Four SPACs were also priced this week, raising $470 million: Blue World Acquisition Corp. (BWAQU), $80 million; Alset Capital Acquisition Corp. (ACAXU), $75 million; Murphy Canyon Acquisition Corp., $115 million, and Kimbell Tiger Acquisition Corp. (TGR.U), $200 million.
Total dollar volume for the first week of February for IPOs and SPACs combined was $707.62 million.
Week of Feb. 7
For the week ahead, the IPO Calendar lists some small-cap deals. At least one is a small uplisting deal carried over from this week.
Stay tuned.
(Never trade on proposed symbols. You might wind up owning something on the OTC Bulletin Board.)
Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.
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