Thursday, November 3, 2011

Verastem braves the public market, files for $50M IPO

By Kyle Alspach, Boston Business Journal

Verastem Inc., a biotech focused on treating cancer by targeting cancer stem cells, on Thursday filed intentions for an initial public offering of stock that could raise up to $50 million.

The Cambridge-based company includes former Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer on its board, while its CEO is Christoph Westphal, founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. Westphal left his position as president of GlaxoSmithKline’s venture investing arm in April. He is also the co-founder of Longwood Founders Fund, a Boston-based venture capital firm, which is the largest investor in Verastem with 15 percent of its shares, according to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other VC backers for Verastem include Bessemer Venture Partners of Cambridge (13 percent), MPM Bioventures of Boston (13 percent) and Advanced Technology Ventures of Waltham, Mass. (5 percent).

Verastem most recently raised a $32 million Series B round from investors including Bessemer and ATV in July, which was added to the company’s $16 million Series A.

The company said UBS Investment Bank and Leerink Swann LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the planned offering. Lazard Capital Markets LLC, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and Rodman & Renshaw LLC are serving as co-managers.

Founders of Verastem include NeoGenesis Pharmaceuticals co-founder and CEO Satish Jindal, Eric Lander from the Cambridge-based Broad Institute, and Piyush Gupta and Robert Weinberg from the Whitehead Institute, also in Cambridge. Also among the founders are Michelle Dipp, Rich Aldrich and Westphal.