Redwood City, California-based Codexis, Inc., a biotechnology company, announced its plan for an initial public offering of up to $100 million of its common stock. It is to be noted that Codexis, which initially filed its intention to go public in April 2008, withdrew its plan in September last year, citing public market conditions.
Codexis, which currently plans to list its common stock on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "CDXS", said it intends to use the offering net proceeds for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
Codexis was incorporated in Delaware in January 2002 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maxygen, Inc. (MAXY). Codexis said it commenced independent operations in March 2002, after licensing core enabling technology from Maxygen.
As of September 30, 2009, Maxygen beneficially owned approximately 21.6% of Codexis' common stock. Equilon Enterprises LLC dba Shell Oil Products US, Biomedical Sciences Investment Fund Pte Ltd, Entities affiliated with CMEA Ventures, James Sulat and Thomas Baruch each hold more than 5% stake in the company, prior to the offering.
Codexis said it has focused its biocatalyst development efforts on rapidly growing markets, including pharmaceuticals and advanced biofuels. Codexis said it has delivered biocatalysts and drug products to several pharmaceutical companies, including Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (RBXLF.PK, RBXZF.PK).
In its research and development collaboration with Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS-A, RDS-B, RDSA.L, RDSB.L), the company said it is also developing biocatalysts for use in producing advanced biofuels from renewable sources of non-food plant materials, known as cellulosic biomass.
Codexis said its five customers accounted for 65% and 79% of total revenues for 2007 and 2008, respectively. In 2007, Shell accounted for 33% of its total revenues and Pfizer accounted for 13% of total revenues. In 2008, Shell accounted for 60% of total revenues, with no other customer accounting for more than 10% of total revenues.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2009, the company incurred net loss of $15.1 million, versus a net loss of $38.8 million in the comparable period prior year. Total revenues for the period rose to $58.67 million from $31.88 million in the same period in 2008.
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