BVCF-backed Jaguar Animal Health targets $54m US IPO
Jaguar Animal Health, a veterinary drugs developer backed by China-focused healthcare investor BVCF, is looking to raise as much as $54 million through a NASDAQ IPO.
The company plans to sell 5 million shares - not including the overallotment option - at $7-9 apiece, according to a regulatory filing. BVCF is not exiting any shares through offering but the issuance of new stock will see the private equity firm's holding fall from 31.3% to 15.6%.
Jaguar was incorporated in 2013 as a majority-owned subsidiary of US-based Napo Pharmaceuticals, while will remain the single largest shareholder in the company post-IPO with a 26.8% stake. Napo provided seed funding and resources - including intellectual property - for Jaguar to develop and commercialize gastrointestinal products for companion and production animals.
The company's lead prescription drug candidate is Canalevia, which is used to treat watery diarrhea in dogs. The drug is based on an active pharmaceutical ingredient isolated and purified from Croton lechleri, a plant species native to South America. An equivalent treatment for humans won regulatory approval in the US two years ago.
Jaguar is also developing drugs that address diarrhea, colonic health, stool formation and other metabolism-related conditions in dogs, horses, cats, dairy calves and sheep.
BVCF provided seed capital for the company in 2013 and then committed $5 million through a Series A round of funding worth $5 million in February of this year. Dr. Zhi Yang, founder and managing director of BVCF, described the investment as the private equity firm's first in animal health for world markets.
China is the third-largest pet market in the world, after the US and Brazil, with 27 million dogs and 11 million cats. Euromonitor International expects annual spending on animal care to reach RMB12.9 billion ($2.1 billion) by 2017, up from RMB7.84 billion in 2012.
Jaguar posted a net loss of $4.9 million for the period starting with its inception in early June 2013 to the end of June 2014. Given the company is a development-stage enterprise, it has yet to generated any revenues.
Life sciences and healthcare investor BVCF was set up in 2005 under its previous name, Bio Veda China. It closed its third fund at $200 million in April of this year. The vehicle is more than twice the size of its 2008 vintage predecessor. The Jaguar investment came out of Fund III.
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