Nanotech firm files for IPO
By Mike Hughlett
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Nanosphere Inc., a pioneering Northbrook-based nanotechnology firm, Monday filed for an initial public stock offering, intending to raise up to $100 million.
Nanosphere makes a genetic-testing system, and is developing diagnostic tests for a variety of medical conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
Current genetic testing techniques are complex and are usually performed only at specialized labs or academic research centers. Nanosphere is aiming to commercialize a low-cost testing system that would be sold to hospitals.
The company plans to use about $50 million from the offering to finance research and to develop its product manufacturing, according to a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Another $40 million would be earmarked for marketing, while any remaining money would be used for working capital and other general costs.
Founded nine years ago, Nanopshere has raised over $100 million in private money, including a $57 million venture capital investment last year from a group led by Boston-based Bain Capital. Chicago-based Lurie Investments, Nanosphere's founding investor, is a major shareholder in the company.
So far, Nanosphere's revenues, which were just over $1 million last year, have come primarily from research contracts and government grants, with "minimal" sales stemming from its actual genetic testing system, according to its securities filing.
The firm's future revenues and any profits, which it doesn't have now depend on getting regulatory approval for its testing systems and then commercializing them, the filing said.
Underwriters for Nanosphere's planned IPO are: Credit Suisse, Piper Jaffray, Leerink Swann & Co. and Allen & Co.
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