Beam Therapeutics enjoyed a successful Wall Street debut Thursday, as the first base editing treatments developer to go public saw its shares surge 45% from its initial public offering (IPO) price before dipping to a 10% first-day gain, closing at $18.75.
Founded in 2017 by gene editing pioneers, Beam Therapeutics raised gross proceeds of $180 million through its IPO of 10,588,236 shares at $17 a share.
Beam priced its shares at the high end of its $15–$17 range, while selling 48% more shares than the 6.25 million shares it envisioned when it first disclosed plans to go public in September 2019. Beam shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “BEAM.”
Beam has also granted its IPO underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,588,235 shares of common stock at the initial public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The offering is expected to close on Monday, subject to satisfying customary closing conditions.
