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Bluebird Bio Hoping to Raise $250M in Public Offering of Common Stock, Accounts Receivable Deal

NEW YORK – Bluebird Bio recently announced plans to raise more than $250 million from two different sources.

Bluebird said on Tuesday it plans to raise around $150 million through a public offering of its common stock. The company will also grant underwriters a 30-day option to purchase additional shares of its common stock valued at around $22.5 million. Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Securities are joint bookrunning managers for the offering, and Raymond James & Associates is a co-manager.

Bluebird announced the previous day that it has also entered into an accounts receivable factoring agreement with Alterna Capital Solutions providing the company with access to $100 million on a revolving basis. Alterna is a specialty finance company, and according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in exchange for earlier access to this capital, Bluebird will sell "from time to time" to Alterna the money it receives from qualified treatment centers that buy its three US Food and Drug Administration-approved gene therapies: Zynteglo (betibeglogene autotemcel), Skysona (elivaldogene autotemcel), and Lyfgenia (lovotibeglogene autotemcel).

Somerville, Massachusetts-based Bluebird said it plans to use the net proceeds from the public offering to commercialize and manufacture these agents. Zynteglo is a gene therapy for adult and pediatric beta-thalassemia patients who require regular red blood cell transfusions, and Skysona is a treatment for early, active cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy.

The FDA most recently approved Lyfgenia for treating severe sickle cell disease along with Vertex's CRISPR gene-edited treatment Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel). Following the approval, Bluebird said it had signed an outcomes-based agreement for Lyfgenia with an unnamed payor representing 100 million covered lives, and it estimated that between 85 and 105 patients will start on one of its marketed gene therapies in 2024.

Bluebird Bio may also use the money raised from the public offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.