Zoetis IPO caps strong month for life sciences financings, says Burrill & Co

Life sciences financing activity got a strong start in the New Year as companies raised $10.3 billion in January. The Pfizer animal health unit Zoetis was responsible for more than half the activity through a debt offering and the largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) since Facebook debuted in May 2012. The robust activity dwarfed the $4.2 billion raised during the same period a year ago, according to Burrill & Co, a California, USA-based global financial services firm focused exclusively on the life sciences.

Companies raised more than $6 billion during the month through debt offerings. This included Zoetis' heavily oversubscribed $3.7 billion bond deal ahead of its IPO. It also included nearly $1.3 billion in debt offerings from nine smaller therapeutics companies, as well as nearly $700 million raised in two medical device company financings.