Argentina-based Bioceres has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering valued at $80.5 million, with the expectation to list on the New York Stock Exchange. The underwriters of the offering are Piper Jaffray, Itau BBA, and Raymond James.

 

Bioceres is a fully integrated agtech company that collaborates with global researchers and agricultural companies to develop, deregulate, scale, and commercialize technologies that will advance agricultural production through the improvement of yields of core crops including wheat, soybeans, corn, and alfalfa in targeted high growth markets.

 

Once a developed technology has received all necessary regulatory approvals, Bioceres, its joint ventures, or its technology licensees will commercialize products that use the technology to end users in both domestic and international markets.

 

The company has also created Bioceres Semillas, its own commercial channel in the seed biotechnology sector, in order to leverage its position with targeted, significant end users to further drive the adoption of the company’s technologies.

 

Bioceres predicts its first commercialized trait technology will be HB4, a joint venture technology that increases yield through abiotic stress-tolerance, which in April of this year received regulatory approval from Argentina’s government with regards to soybeans. In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently concluded its Early Food Safety Evaluation process for the plant protein responsible for the HB4 trait, or HB4 Protein.

 

The company plans to use the funds raised from the offering for general corporate purposes, including to expand its agro-industrial biotech business, develop next generation seed biotech solutions through ongoing technology sourcing and product development, develop a proprietary channel for seed distribution, fund working capital needs, and make capital expenditures.