Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Ethanol: Verenium Crushed on Offering (VRNMD)

I was actually going for a Warren Buffett story (a tiny IPO) when this popped up. The stock was recently down $1.29 at $5.31.
From 24/7 Wall Street
If any ethanol is supposed to be feasible, it is cellulosic ethanol. One player in that sub-sector is Verenium Corp. (NASDAQ: VRNMD). Unfortunately, its shares are getting crushed this morning as it has detailed its planned sale of stock and warrants. The small company has priced a public offering of 2,250,000 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 900,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $6.00 per unit.

This will raise approximately $12.3 million and is supposed to keep the company afloat into 2010. Verenium has approximately 9 million shares outstanding based on the most recent pre-offering data now that it completed a 1 for 12 reverse stock split in recent weeks. The company claimed roughly $14.9 million of unrestricted cash as of June 30, 2009. It is still not profitable, but you probably guessed that things are tough because of the “D” on the end of the stock ticker. There is just one small problem with the offering. Shares are getting whacked and are down some 27% at $4.80 after closing at $6.60 yesterday....MORE