Black Diamond Therapeutics Doubles After $201 Million IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Black Diamond Therapeutics Inc. more than doubled in its trading debut after raising $201 million in an initial public offering that exceeded its goals.

Shares of the oncology therapy developer finished their first day of trading up 108% from the offer price of $19. They closed in New York trading Thursday at $39.48, giving the company a market value of $1.3 billion.

The company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sold 10.6 million shares Wednesday after earlier marketing 8.9 million for $16 to $18.

The listing is -- at least for a few hours -- the largest in the U.S. so far this year. Reynolds Consumer Products Inc. is set to sell its shares later Thursday to raise as much as $1.32 billion.

Black Diamond Therapeutics said in its filings that it plans to use the IPO proceeds to develop its BDTX-189 cancer medicine, with a combined phase 1/2 clinical trial starting in the first half of the year.

The company’s largest investor is Versant Ventures, according to the filings.

The offering was led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Jefferies Financial Group Inc. and Cowen Inc. The shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol BDTX.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Hytha in San Francisco at mhytha@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha

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