INC Research, a life science services firm based in Raleigh, must sense the timing its really right for its IPO.
In a new SEC filing, INC set a target price of more than $186 million. That’s $36 million higher than the initial filing three weeks ago.
The shares are expected to price between $17 and $20, according to the company.
“All of the 8,108,108 shares of Class A common stock offered hereby are being sold by the company,” INC added.
INC, which is a contract research organization focused on clinical trials, operates in six continents across some 100 countries.
The company reports that it lost $41.5 million on revenues of $652 million in 2013. However, income has jumped in 2014 with revenues hitting $388 million in the first six months of the year and a net income of nearly $14 million.
In its initial filing, INC noted its services, global reach and growth.
“Over the past decade, we have systematically built our scale and capabilities to become a leading global provider of Phase I to Phase IV clinical development services, with approximately 5,400 employees in 50 countries across six continents as of June 30, 2014,” the filing reads.
“Our broad global reach has enabled us to provide clinical development services in over 100 countries. Our global footprint provides our customers with broad access to diverse markets and patient populations, local regulatory expertise and local market knowledge. We have developed our capabilities and infrastructure in parallel with our extensive, industry-leading relationships with principal investigators and clinical research sites, as demonstrated by our ranking as the ‘Top CRO’ in the 2013 CenterWatch Global Investigative Site Relationship Survey, which was conducted by CenterWatch, a third-party leading publisher in the clinical trials industry.
“The survey covered responses from over 2,000 global sites across 36 specific relationship attributes about CROs that the sites surveyed have worked with in the past two years. Our diversified customer base includes a mix of many of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical companies as well as high-growth, small and mid-sized biopharmaceutical companies.”
If the IPO is successful, INC would trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol INCR.
Goldman, Sachs & Co and Credit Suisse are handling the IPO as a joint lead. Also participating are Baird, William Blair and Wells Fargo.
INC is one of several CROs, including Quintiles which is the world’s largest, that makes the Triangle a major hub for the clinical trial related industry.
