Israel’s Gamida Cell closes $50 mln U.S. initial public offering

Israeli cellular and immune therapeutics company Gamida Cell completed its initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq.

The company set out to raise $50 million to $60 million at a valuation of $275 million before the money. During the IPO, it raised $50 million, but at a lower valuation of $165 million before the money.

Gamida Cell offered an upsized 6.25 million shares, 75 percent more shares than expected, at $8, below the range of $13 to $15.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which owned 21 percent of Gamida Cell before the offering, and Isreali peer Clal Biotechnology, which owned 18 percent, agreed to purchase an aggregate of $37.5 million of the offering, 75 percent of the deal.