Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Ceres Sets IPO Pricing Range

Thousand Oaks-based Ceres, the developer of seeds to supply the bioenergy and biofuels feedstock business, has set its initial pricing range for its IPO, according to a filing from the company this morning. Ceres said it now expects its IPO to price at between $21.00 and $23.00 per share, raising up to $132.25M for the company. Ceres has applied to list on the NASDAQ Global Market as CERE. The firm's IPO is being underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Barclays Capital, Piper Jaffray, Raymond James, and Simmons & Company International. Ceres is backed by investors Artal, Warburg Pincus, Ambergate Trust, Oxford Bioscience, GIMV, Oppenheimer Growth, and Monsanto, among others. The firm breeds sweet sorghum and switchgrass seeds specifically designed to feed biofuels and ethanol plants.