DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Ikaria Inc. withdrew its initial public offering Wednesday,
according to underwriter Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).
Neither Goldman nor Ikaria immediately responded to inquiries
about why the company pulled the IPO. But the biotherapeutics
company cut the size and estimated price range of its offering
earlier Wednesday, indicating investor interest was weaker than
hoped. It had estimated the offering to be at least eight million
shares within an expected range of $12 to $13.
Shares would have listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the
symbol IKAR. There would have been some 42 million shares
outstanding after the IPO, proceeds from which were supposed to go
toward debt repayment for the most part.
The smaller IPO follows Ikaria's announcement last month that it
would replace malfunctioning cables in some of its INOmax DS
devices, used in treating infant respiratory failure and which were
recalled during the summer over faulty switches which may have
harmed patients. Ikaria didn't say at the time how many devices
were affected or how much it would cost to replace the cables.
Investors in Ikaria include majority shareholder New Mountain
Capital, venture-capital firms ARCH Venture Partners and Venrock,
and industrial gas supplier Linde AG (LNEGY, LIN.XE).
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company's earnings fell
55% to $6.6 million amid sharply higher interest expenses while
revenue rose 9.7% to $218.7 million.
While many companies, especially those based in China, have
launched successful IPOs in the U.S. in recent weeks, others have
struggled to draw investor interest, and some have postponed or
withdrawn their offerings, citing unfavorable market conditions.
The disparity in investor interest reflected variations in IPO
quality as well as broader market jitters.
-By Kathy Shwiff and Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires;
212-416-2291; joan.solsman@dowjones.com