If Bob Nelsen ever wanted to hide, yesterday would’ve been the time. Ikaria, the futuristic “hibernation-on-demand” company he bankrolled five years ago, was on the cusp of going public this week at a valuation of more than $700 million. It was a moment he had been eagerly awaiting a long time. Two years ago, Nelsen told Xconomy that Ikaria “will probably be the biggest biotech IPO ever when it decides to go public.”
This week, when Ikaria tested the IPO waters, it actually found nowhere near that kind of demand from investors. The offering was withdrawn at the 11th hour Wednesday night.
One of those rare moments in venture capital—the moment an illiquid investment becomes liquid—had slipped away. Arch had missed an opportunity to have its Ikaria stake valued at more than $56 million. It was also bad news for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and founding scientist Mark Roth, who both have substantial holdings in the company.
But Nelsen came to work anyway today, and did his best to explain why Ikaria withdrew its IPO, and why he thinks the company still has good growth prospects. He pointed out that unlike most biotech companies, which burn cash for many years in anticipation of developing a profitable drug, Ikaria is already profitable and doesn’t really need the IPO proceeds to stay in business. Regulatory filings do show that Ikaria had generated $274 million in revenue, and a $13 million profit in 2009. Here’s what he had to say in an e-mail message yesterday, and his response to a few follow-up questions.
Bob Nelsen: We pulled the IPO due to market conditions. While there was significant interest in the offering and in the company, Ikaria is one of only a few profitable biotech companies, and had the option to withdraw at this time. In other words, we didn’t need the money to survive as most biotechs would.
Ikaria generates large positive cash flows and has a solid pipeline of critical care drugs. (I think our positive net cash flows exceed all the biotechs in Seattle together)
Our next steps will be to continue to develop the pipeline, and to continue to acquire additional critical care assets.
Xconomy: Are you disappointed?
