Cellect raises $8.5m on Nasdaq at 13% discount

Shai Yarkoni
Shai Yarkoni

The Israeli stem cell selection firm intended to raise $10 million on the first day of trading, and plummeted 23%.

Stem cell selection company Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. (TASE: CLBD) completed a Nasdaq IPO and raising $8.5 million over the weekend, compared with $10 million it intended to raise. Cellect's offering was at a share price of $6.50, reflecting an NIS 1.25 price for the Israeli parallel (each Cellect ADS share in the US correlates with 20 TASE shares). This price constitutes a 13% discount on the share's closing price during the day of offering, if options are not taken into account. Options were given at a rate of 0.75 options for each ADS and at a $7.50 exercise price. Cellect is traded on Nasdaq under the APOP ticker (which refers to apoptosis, the biological process used to select the cells).

During the first day of trade on Nasdaq, Cellect shares plummeted 23%, with a parallel drop reported on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in the afternoon, resulting in Cellect being traded at a market cap of NIS 89 million. The offering was managed by Rodman and Renshaw as leading underwriters and Chardan as secondary underwriter. US investors acquired most of the shares, consisting of retail investors as well as financial and specialty funds.

"The field of stem cells has recently regained its popularity on Wall Street and every significant investments bank has an analyst specializing in the field," said Cellect Deputy CEO and CFO Ronen Twito. "I believe that what attracted them to our story and allowed us to conduct the offering even in the current period, which is less favorable for biomed offerings, is that we have a platform of products, both independent and products which could be used for cell selection by the entire industry."

Cellect, managed by CEO Dr. Shai Yarkoni, has been developing a technology for the separation of stem cells from other cells in a tissue, in a cell sample. This enables the generation of high-density stem cell samples, relatively pure from other cells, which makes them both safer and more efficient. Cellect has no revenue and, as of late March 2016, has NIS 15.4 million in cash.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 1, 2016

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016

Shai Yarkoni
Shai Yarkoni
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