But this week, bankers have high hopes that the Fluidigm deal will get done.
Fluidigm (GMS: FLDM proposed) (Quote, News & Chart) is a San Francisco-based developer of integrated fluidic circuits to automate drug development and other life sciences research.
A curious factor: Some media and reporting services call Fluidigm a biotech company. Fluidigm’s Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number, which is assigned by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is: 3826 – Laboratory Analytical Instruments. The SIC code number for biotech companies is: 2836.
Last week, Fluidigm had planned to price 5.3 million shares at $14 to $16 each on Thursday evening, Sept. 18. It was expected to start trading on Friday morning, Sept. 19. It didn’t happen. Now the deal is now expected to be priced Monday evening, Sept. 22, to trade Tuesday, Sept. 23.
What is curious is that the original pricing terms have not been changed since they were set on Sept. 5, 2008. Since then, the stock market has taken a wild ride. The Nasdaq Composite Index went from a Sept. 5 close of 2,255.88 to a closing low of 2,098.85 on Sept. 17 to a close of 2,273.90 on Sept. 19.
Play It Again, Sam
There have been no updated filings concerning Fluidigm’s financials. Therefore, let’s replay the figures below from last week’s IPO Buzz:
Fluidigm, with a net loss of $25.5 million on revenues of $7.3 million for 2007, and a net loss of $15.3 million on revenues of $5.2 million for the six months ended June 28, 2008, stated in its prospectus: “We have incurred significant losses since our inception (in 1999), had an accumulated deficit of $149.1 million as of June 28, 2008, and expect to incur losses for the foreseeable future.”
Last week’s stock market gyrated violently as investors struggled to keep up with a blitz of developments that have changed Wall Street as we once knew it.
And who knows what this week will bring? It’s a safe bet that people won’t be watching the IPO calendar.