Biotech Company Opthea Aims To Raise $160M In US IPO

Opthea Limited, a biotechnology company focussed on retinal diseases, announced Sunday it is seeking an initial public offering in the United States.

What Happened: The Melbourne Australia-based biopharmaceutical company will offer American Depositary Shares each of which will represent eight of the company’s ordinary shares.

Opthea is targeting $160 million in gross proceeds in the offering and is giving underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 15% of the ADSs in the IPO.

The ADSs will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “OPT.”

Citigroup Inc C and SVB Leerink have been appointed as joint book-running managers, while Oppenheimer Holdings Inc OPY-subsidiary Oppenheimer & Co  and Truist Financial Corporation's TFC division Truist Securities are acting as lead managers.

On Monday, at press-time, the company’s shares traded at $2.18 in Sydney, which would price an ADR at $17.44.

Why It Matters: Opthea’s focus is on developing a novel therapy for highly preventable and progressive retinal diseases including wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME).

The company’s lead clinical candidate OPT-302 is under development for use in combination with anti-VEGF-A monotherapies.

The company — founded in 2012 — raked in $1 million in revenue for 12 months ended June 30, according to Renaissance Capital.

Photo courtesy of Opthea