London calling

European companies have been flocking to NASDAQ to raise cash from U.S. investors. But California's Verseon Corp. (LSE:VSN) decided to swim against the tide all the way to London to ensure it brought in shareholders with a long-term horizon.

On May 7, the computational drug discovery play raised £65.8 million ($99.6 million) through the sale of 32.6 million shares at 202p in an IPO on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. The price valued Verseon at £302.5 million ($457.9 million). According to BioCentury's BCIQ database, the deal is the second-largest healthcare IPO on AIM after the IPO of service provider Quantum Pharma plc (LSE:QP), which raised £106.1 million ($165 million) in 2014. ...