Dublin-based clinical trials group Icon raised $48 million (€42 million) yesterday following a successful placing of 1.5 million new shares with institutional investors.
The firm's founders, Dr John Climax and Dr Ronan Lambe, sold a further 1.684 million shares in the group, earning themselves €54 million before expenses.
The transaction on the Nasdaq was priced at €32.25 per share, slightly above estimates given in the prospectus, reflecting strong demand for Icon's paper. This enabled Icon chairman Dr Climax to sell an extra 184,000 shares above his original offer.
Mr Peter Gray, Icon chief executive, told The Irish Times yesterday the share placing had been heavily oversubscribed following 70 meetings with potential investors in the past three weeks. He said he could not yet reveal which financial institutions had taken up the issue.
Icon would use the cash raised through the share issue to give it the flexibility to look at small acquisitions. But there was no specific target as yet, he said.
Dr Lambe, who recently retired as chairman of Icon, will net about €36 million from the sale of one million shares in the firm, while Dr Climax will net €18 million after selling 684,000 shares.
Both men studied for their doctorates in pharmacology at the National University of Ireland before founding Icon in 1990.
Dr Climax and Dr Lambe, who mortgaged their homes to provide the start-up capital for their venture, each raised $5.3 million when Icon floated in 1998.
Dr Climax served as chief executive of the group from 1990 to October 2002 and Dr Lambe served as Icon board member from June 1990 to November 2002. Both men, who have tended to shun the media limelight throughout their long business careers, were unavailable for comment last night.
Icon, which employs 2,325 staff in 17 countries, develops trials and tests for drug companies such as Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. About 71 per cent of its sales are generated in the US.
Icon's net revenue was $156.6 million during fiscal 2002.
The share placing was managed by Bear Sterns, Goldman Sachs, Davy Stockbrokers and William Blair.
Shares in Icon fell 3.48 per cent to $32.45 following news of the successful share issue yesterday.
Icon reported a profit of $5.3 million, or 43 US cents a share, for the fourth quarter to May 31th last, compared to $3.8 million, or 31 cents a share a year earlier.
Icon's fourth-quarter revenue surged 54 per cent to $66 million from $43 million in the previous year, helped by the effect of acquisitions.
Earlier this year, the firm announced plans to expand its business overseas further by appointing a new vice-president of rest of the world region and opening a new office in Moscow.
