LianBio stock opens below the IPO price, reversing early indications of a rally

LianBio LIAN, -13.56% got off to a rocky start as a public company, as the first trade of the shares of biotechnology company with operations in the U.S. and China was 3.1% below the initial public offering price, reversing early indications of an upbeat open. The company said Sunday evening that its IPO priced at $16 a share, or in the middle of the expected range, as the company sold 20.31 shares to raise $325.0 million. The earliest indications of the stock's open was as high as around $18.50, which would have been 15.6% above the IPO price, but indications took a quick and steady turn south and fell to a low of about $13.50 before bouncing a bit. The stock's first trade was at $15.50 at 12:13 p.m. Eastern for 618,154 shares. At that price, the company would be valued at $1.63 billion, down from expectations of up to $1.79 billion before the pricing. The stock fell further since the open, to trade recently down 10.4% at $14.34. The stock's downbeat open comes on a day of relatively good investor interest in IPO shares, as the Renaissance IPO ETF IPO, +0.30% rose 0.2% in midday trading while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.02% inched up less than 0.1%.