Talecris still mulling big IPO

A biotechnology company is dusting off plans for what would be one of the Triangle's biggest Wall Street debuts.

Talecris Biotherapeutics first filed for an initial public offering of stock in June 2007, but scrapped that when an Australian company last summer agreed to buy it for $3.1 billion. Then the acquisition ran into trouble with U.S. antitrust regulators and was called off last month.

Talecris has since started filing updated regulatory documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a move that signals the Research Triangle Park company still harbors IPO dreams.

It could be good timing.

So far this year, only 14 companies have successfully gone public, down 63 percent from the same period last year, reports Renaissance Capital, an IPO research firm in Greenwich, Conn. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq is now up 25 percent so far this year, a big indicator that investors' interest is reviving for technology and biotech stocks.

"The IPO window is beginning to open," said Kathleen Shelton Smith, a principal with Renaissance Capital, an IPO research firm in Greenwich, Conn.

SEC filings show Talecris plans to raise as much as $1 billion.

Such a deal typically enriches early investors and employees who have received options. It also would attract more Wall Street attention to this region's other biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Talecris was formed in 2005 after two investment firms bought Bayer's blood-plasma business. The company employs about 4,750 worldwide, including more than 2,000 at a factory in Clayton that makes medicine from blood plasma and at its headquarters in RTP.

Certainly, a Talecris IPO is far from a sure thing. Company officials will need to file more details with the SEC, including a proposed per-share price range. Then they'll need to court big Wall Street investors such as pension and mutual funds and convince them the stock is worth buying.

And if another prospective buyer came along, Talecris' owners could decide selling is simpler than risking the uncertainity of an IPO.

"We're always exploring opportunities," said Talecris spokeswoman Wendy Wilson. She declined further comment on the possibilities of an IPO.

Continuing to file updated documents with the SEC requires paying hefty fees, not a likely move unless a company is serious about an IPO, said John Fitzgibbon, owner and publisher of IPOScoop.com, a New Jersey research firm.

"An iffy company is hardly in any kind of position to stick their toe in the water, " given the costs and hassle, he added.

One factor in Talecris' favor: The company's business is expanding and it's making money. Revenue last year was $1.4 billion, up more than 15 percent from 2007.