When Nasdaq ceased trading for three hours on Thursday, it interrupted the debut of the sole company to go public on the exchange that day, Regado Biosciences.
The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based company closed at $4.70 per share, above its $4 initial public offering price despite the trading stoppage. Ryan Wells, director, corporate communications of Nasdaq OMX, said in an e-mail that trading was stopped after Nasdaq executives discovered that price quotes were not being properly consolidated and disseminated.
Alternative investment managers that invested in the company include RusnanoMedInvest, a subsidiary of the state-run Moscow-based investment firm RUSNANO, Baxter Healthcare's venture capital subsidiary Baxter Ventures, Paris-based private equity firm Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, as well as venture capital firms Domain Associates, Quaker BioVentures, Aurora Funds and Caxton Advantage Life Sciences Fund, according to SEC filings.
Domain Associates, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Quaker BioVentures and Aurora Funds are among the largest owners, according to the filings. Their limited partners have exposure to Regado Biosciences through these funds: Domain Partners VI and DP VI Associates; BioDiscovery 3 FCPR; Aurora Ventures IV and V; and Quaker Bioventures.
Limited partners in those funds include the $80 billion North Carolina Retirement Systems, Raleigh, which is an investor in both Aurora Ventures funds. The $25.7 billion Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, which invested $20 million; the $8.3 billion Dow Chemical Co. pension fund, Midland, Mich.; and the $346 million Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, Miami, all invested in Quaker BioVentures. The $11.9 billion University of California Board of Regents, Oakland, is among the investors in Domain Partners VI.
“It may have worked out for the best. (The stock) was up significantly when trading stopped,” said Joshua Drumm, Regado Biosciences spokesman.
Mr. Drumm said he could not comment further on the interruption of trading on the Nasdaq because the company is in a quiet period.
However, it could take months before the alternative investment managers know exactly how much they made from the IPO because a portion of the stock held by the largest shareholders cannot be sold immediately, according to SEC documents.
Executives at the largest alternative investors in the company could not be reached by press time.
