Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ARWR) has priced an underwritten public offering of 10 million shares of its common stock, fixed at $5.25 a share, before underwriting discounts. This offering is anticipated to close around January 22, 2018, depending on customary closing conditions.
The buzz
Arrowhead reported that the company has given the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 1.5 million shares at the public offering price, minus the underwriting discount. Barclays Capital Inc. and Jefferies LLC are book running managers for the underwritten public offering, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. will be passive joint book runner for this offering.
Gross offering proceeds will be around $52.5 million, before subtracting underwriting discounts and offering expenses and commissions. Arrowhead plans to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, such as working capital, R&D expenditures, clinical trial expenditures and capital expenditures. A part of the net proceeds will be used for the buying of complementary businesses, technologies and products, or for other strategic purposes.
In unrelated news, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals reported that the board has elected veteran biotech executive Mr. William Waddill as an independent director of the firm, from January 1, 2018. Douglass Given, M.D., Ph.D., the Chairman of company’s Board, expressed that Waddill is an accomplished biotech executive and board member. They anticipate working with him during this thrilling time as Arrowhead expands its pipeline of RNAi-therapeutics.
Waddill started his career 30 years ago in segment of public accounting and commercial banking and has been in the biotech market for more than 25 years. Presently, he is a member of Protagonist Therapeutics’ board and most recently was CFO and SVP of Calithera Bioscience.
In the last trading session, the stock price of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals jumped more than 9% to close the day at $6.29. The gains came at a share volume of 4.72 million compared to average share volume of 1.45 million.