Biotech company Alector raises $176mn in post-shutdown IPO

Bloomberg

Alector Inc. raised $176 million in the first US initial public offering without a fixed share price since the government shutdown all but froze the market.
The biotechnology company said in a statement that it sold 9.25 million shares at $19 each, the midpoint of the marketed range of $18 to $20. The share sale gives the company a market value of about $1.3 billion.
The offering is the first to price in the US since the 35-day shutdown that sidelined reviews by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
All but one of the seven IPOs that priced after the shutdown began December 22 were made possible by the companies setting fixed prices for their shares.
That allowed the listings to proceed without additional SEC review.
Two other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies have held IPOs this year and five more are set to price their shares by February 15, when the temporary spending plan that’s kept the government open is set to expire. Combined, those listings are expected to raise a total of about $736 million, following 72 last year in the US that raised $9.45 billion, the data shows.
Alector is studying how to use the body’s immune system to tackle neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. A similar approach has ushered in a new generation of cancer drugs, but has yet to succe-ed for brain and nervous system disorders.