Verve Therapeutics drops on $148 mln equity raise, share placement with Eli Lilly

Beam Therapeutics

29/11/2023 13:02

** Shares of Verve Therapeutics  VERV.O  down 9.6% at $10.79
premarket after overnight follow-on priced
    ** Co late Tues announced 12.5-mln-share public offering at
$10 for $125 mln
    ** Offering price represents 16.2% discount to stock's last
sale
    ** VERV also sold ~2.3 mln shares in concurrent private
placement to Eli Lilly  LLY.N  for approx $23 mln
    ** With ~63.7 mln shares outstanding, VERV has roughly $761
mln market cap
    ** In Jun, VERV entered collaboration with LLY to develop
potential cures for inherited causes of heart disease and stroke
    ** Last month, LLY acquired Beam Therapeutics'  BEAM.O 
opt-in rights to co-develop/co-commercialize VERV's gene-editing
therapy programs
    ** YTD, VERV's stock down 38% YTD through Tues close
    ** Jefferies, Guggenheim, William Blair, BMO and RBC acting
as jt bookrunners for public offering

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))