Nektar Slides on Secondary Offering Pricing

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 2:11AM EST · Published Oct 19, 11:25AM EDT

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Nektar Slides on Secondary Offering Pricing — © Thinkstock

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR) has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a secondary offering. The company plans to price its 13 million shares at $13.50, with an overallotment option for an additional 1.95 million shares. At this price, the entire offering, including the option, is valued up to $201.825 million.

As for the underwriters in this offering, JPMorgan is acting as lead book-running manager. Jefferies and Piper Jaffray are book-running managers. William Blair is acting as lead manager for the offering, and Brean Capital, BTIG, Janney Montgomery Scott, Ladenburg Thalmann and Roth Capital Partners are co-managers for the offering.

This biopharmaceutical company is developing a pipeline of drug candidates that utilize its PEGylation and advanced polymer conjugate technology platforms, which are designed to enable the development of new molecular entities that target known mechanisms of action.

The current proprietary pipeline is comprised of drug candidates across a number of therapeutic areas including oncology, pain, anti-infectives and immunology. Research and development activities involve small molecule drugs, peptides and protein biologic drug candidates.

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Nektar creates innovative drug candidates by using its proprietary advanced polymer conjugate technologies and expertise to modify the chemical structure of pharmacophores to create new molecular entities. Polymer chemistry is a science focused on the synthesis or bonding of polymer architectures with drug molecules to alter the properties of a molecule.

Its drug candidates are designed to improve the overall benefits and use of a drug for patients by improving the metabolism, distribution, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, half-life and/or bioavailability of drugs. The overall objective is to apply its advanced polymer conjugate technology platform to create new drug candidates in multiple therapeutic areas that address large potential markets.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including research and development funding and working capital.

Shares of Nektar were trading down 5% at $13.32 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $21.00 and a 52-week trading range of $10.52 to $19.98.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.