Axovant Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ: AXON) rose sharply Monday after Jefferies upgraded the stock from hold to buy and raised its price target from $2.50 to $3 per share.
Friday, the Basel, Switzerland-based Axovant announced the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 30,000,000 of its common shares at a price to the public of $1.00 per share. Gross proceeds to Axovant from the offering are expected to be approximately $30,000,000 before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses.
A news release issued Friday went on to say all of the common shares are being offered by Axovant. In connection with this offering, Axovant has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 4,500,000 of its common shares on the same terms and conditions. The offering is expected to close on Tuesday, subject to customary closing conditions.
The release concludes by saying Jefferies and Guggenheim Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. JMP Securities is acting as lead manager and H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as co-manager for the offering.
Axovant is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing a pipeline of innovative product candidates for debilitating neurological and neuromuscular diseases such as Parkinson's disease, GM1 gangliosidosis, Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases, oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia, and other indications.
Shares hiked 24 cents, or 23.8%, to $1.25
