Biodesix offers new shares to bolster credit line
BOULDER — Biodesix Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX), a life-sciences company that specializes in developing tools to detect lung disease, has launched a new public offering of 30.5 million shares in order to meet the terms of a new $50 million line of credit from a health care investment firm.
The company expects to raise $35.1 million with its public offering, of which William Blair & Co. is acting as sole bookrunning manager, Biodesix revealed in a set of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure this week. The offering is expected to close on Nov. 21
Underwriters of the deal will be granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $4.5 million of shares of its common stock at the public offering price of $1.15 per share.
“The net proceeds of the offering are expected to be used for commercial expansion of sales, supporting its product pipeline, research and development and for general corporate purposes,” Biodesix said.
The $50 million term-loan facility from investor Perceptive Advisors LLC “is conditioned on the company raising at least $30 million in gross proceeds through sale of its equity securities, [and] is part of a strategic fundraising effort to strengthen the company’s balance sheet, reduce near term cash use and enable the continued growth trajectory of the core lung diagnostics business,” Biodesix said. “The proceeds from this debt offering will be used for repayment of existing debt facilities, working capital, and general corporate purposes, including expansion of the commercialization activities for the company’s five Medicare reimbursed lung diagnostic tests.”
The loan will be paid out in one $30 million tranche with two additional buckets of $10 million each available as needed.
“This financing provides Biodesix with significant flexibility and strengthens our balance sheet thereby positioning us to continue building on the growth momentum we have seen the past few quarters,” Biodesix chief operating officer Robin Harper Cowie said in a prepared statement. “We are pleased to have the support from Perceptive, which is a recognized leader in growth capital financing.”
Biodesix is bolstering its balance sheet at the same time as it prepares to move into a new 80,000-square-foot facility, a former Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) clothing store in Louisville that the company is transforming into a lab and office space.
The financial maneuvering this week appears to have satisfied Wall Street as Biodesix’s stock price has ballooned more than 25% over the past five days.
Source: BizWest
