Biofuels IPO: Gevo Prices (GEVO)

Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a developer and manufacturer of renewable chemicals and biofuels, is coming public today.  The initial public offering was for 7.15 million shares at $15.00 per share, making this one price at the top of its price range.  Last week we had the share sale pegged at 7,150,000 shares of common stock with a price range of $13 to $15 per share.

The good news for this IPO is that all shares are being sold by the company itself.  The net proceeds from this offering are expected to be $95.7 million.  UBS, Piper Jaffray, and Citi were listed as the joint book-running managers; and Simmons & Company was the co-manager for the offering.

Gevo is developing capital efficient biorefinery systems to provide renewable and cost-effective building block products to the fuel and chemical industries.  It converts renewable raw materials into isobutanol and renewable hydrocarbons that can be directly integrated into existing fuel and chemical products to deliver environmental and economic benefits.

The company plans to use the net proceeds of the IPO to acquire access to ethanol facilities through direct acquisition and joint ventures, and retrofit those facilities to produce isobutanol.  For all practical purposes, the company is still in the pre-revenue stage as far as full-line operations are concerned.

JON C. OGG