Quotient, a U.K. company focused on blood transfusion diagnostics, unveiled plans for an initial public offering that would raise as much as $75 million. The move continues a steady trickle of IPO movement among testing companies that began late last fall.
Share pricing and other details aren't out yet, but the company said it would rely on UBS Securities, Cowen & Company and Robert W. Baird & Co. to serve as joint bookrunners for the deal. Plans call for trading on Nasdaq, using the symbol "QTNT," according to the S-1 filing.
Quotient, which launched in 2007, describes itself as a commercial-stage diagnostics company whose tests focus on transfusion diagnostics, which includes blood grouping and serological disease screening, executives explain in their filing that they are betting a lot on MosaiQ, a test platform designed to be "the first commercially available, fully automated testing platform:" that can simultaneously identify "all clinically significant blood-group antigens and antibodies in either donor or patient blood, eliminating manual testing." The test also has the capacity to handle all currently mandated screening for donated blood, including HIV, hepatitis, and other pathogens.
Quotient said it booked more than $14.3 million in net revenue in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, up from $12.2 million in 2012. The company, which is not profitable yet, lost $4.7 million in its 2013 fiscal year and nearly $4.5 million the year before, according to its regulatory filing.
While the biotech IPO renaissance that began in fall 2013 has generally continued in 2014, diagnostics IPOs have remained a steady trickle. Earlier in February, Biocept Laboratories in California went public with a tiny IPO. The diagnostic test maker raised $19 million through the sale of 1.9 million shares at $10 each, after filing plans for a $25 million IPO last November. Other diagnostic outfits such as Oxford Immunotec ($OXFD), Veracyte ($VCYT) and Foundation Medicine ($FMI) launched successful IPOs last fall, though CardioDx abandoned its IPO plans, citing tepid market conditions.
Device maker Biomet, meanwhile--taken private in an $11.4 billion leveraged buyout 7 years ago--has reportedly filed plans for an IPO valued at approximately $100 million.
- here's the full S-1 filing
- check out Renaissance Capital's take