No Sweating This Biotech IPO; Dermira Prices 7.8mil Share Offering

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Brokerdealer.com blog update courtesy of Renaissance Capital

Dermira, a biotech targeting skin conditions such as psoriasis, excessive sweating and acne, raised $125 million by offering 7.8 million shares at $16, the high end of the range of $14 to $16. Dermira plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol DERM. Dermira initially filed confidentially on 6/26/2014. BrokerDealers Citi and Leerink Partners acted as lead managers on the deal.

The Redwood City company led by CEO Tom Wiggins priced its shares at $16, the high end of its target range. It jumped by more than 10 percent Friday when it began trading on Nasdaq with the symbol of DERM. But it finished the day at $15.55, down almost 3 percent.

Despite $68 million in accumulated deficits and no revenue, the company had the best IPO of the three from the Bay Area this week. Together, they are the first companies in the region to go public since late July. Before pricing the shares, Dermira boosted the amount of stock offered by 46 percent.

BrokerDealer BATS Seeks New Prez

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BrokerDealer.com blog post courtesy of extract from WSJ

BATS Global Markets Inc. the brokerdealer that operates the BATS electronic exchange platform, has begun searching for a new president just over a month after it forced William O’Brien out of the position, according to people familiar with the matter.

After Mr. O’Brien abruptly departed BATS in July, BATS Chief Executive Joe Ratterman assumed the title of president effective immediately, according to a statement at the time. Mr. Ratterman is based in Lenexa, Kan., while Mr. O’Brien worked out of the firm’s Jersey City, N.J., office.

Since then, the BATS board has decided to look for a new president. The position would likely be based in Jersey City and play a role in acting as a liaison with the company’s owners, many of which are large Wall Street firms based in New York City, and be a public face for the company.

It wasn’t previously known whether the company would seek to replace Mr. O’Brien or leave Mr. Ratterman as both chief executive and president. A spokesman for BATS declined to comment.

One reason for Mr. O’Brien’s departure was a decision by BATS to settle allegations that one of its units gave unfair advantages to high-speed traders, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Mr. O’Brien declined to comment.

BrokerDealer WhistleBlowers Beware: Arbitration is a Double-Edged Sword

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BrokerDealer.com blog update re the Finra arbitration process is courtesy of extract from 31 Aug New York Times story by Gretchen Morgenson

nytimes logoFive years ago, Sean Martin, a registered representative at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York, saw something troubling on his trading desk.

A few of his colleagues, he said, were letting preferred hedge fund clients listen in on confidential market commentary by the firm’s analysts before their views were made public. He alerted his superiors and was almost immediately given a negative review, a first in more than 10 years at the firm, he said. His bosses also removed him from the group he’d been working with and cut his compensation.

Mr. Martin, who continues to work at Deutsche Bank, said he believed that he was being punished for reporting misconduct and took the one avenue of redress that was open to him. In August 2012, he brought an arbitration case against the firm, contending retaliation and asking to recover his lost earnings. As is typical in the financial industry, his employment contract required that any dispute between him and his employer go through private arbitration, not the courts. Mr. Martin’s matter is being heard by three arbitrators associated with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a self-regulatory organization that operates the largest dispute resolution forum in the securities industry.

But Mr. Martin’s experience with arbitration, both he and his lawyer say, has raised questions of fairness in the process. The three-member panel hearing his case has barred him from testifying about certain crucial aspects of what he saw at Deutsche Bank and disallowed the introduction of documents that bolster his claims. This led his lawyer to conclude that the panel was not interested in specifics of the behavior at the heart of his accusations — and to ask a state court to step in.

“When I filed this arbitration, I expected that Finra would resolve the dispute between Deutsche Bank and me in a fair way,” Mr. Martin, 41, said in a statement provided by his lawyer. “I was surprised and disappointed when the arbitrators refused to listen to important parts of what I wanted to say and rejected or redacted my exhibits. I can’t see how a dispute can be fairly resolved if one party is not even allowed to tell their side.”

To continue reading the entirety of the NY Times article, click on this link

Social Media and Deal Making: A BrokerDealer.com Comment

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social_media_snippetSocial Media and Dealmaking

In a nod and a wink to BrokerDealer.com’s “Deal Forum” below excerpt from middlemarket.com interview with Axial’s Sam Jacobs provides tips to use specialized social networks to meet, interact, communicate and transact.

What are the benefits of social media for middle-market dealmakers?

Successful deal professionals are characterized by the breadth and depth of their relationships. Broadly, social media and online networks have changed the way people meet, interact, communicate, evaluate and transact. Filtering information to engage in more meaningful conversations and multiplying that effort can be powerful for dealmakers with little time and lots to accomplish.

In using social media to expand one’s professional network exponentially, dealmakers can enhance business development and deal sourcing efforts. As more and more of their “customers” and counterparties move online, reaching audiences in this way will eventually be ubiquitous. Today, however, deal professionals who use social mediums can realize a competitive advantage.

Give us three tips that middle-market dealmakers can use to leverage social media. Continue reading →

New York AG Puts Top BrokerDealer Dark Pools In Cross-Hairs (Again)

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BrokerDealer.com blog update courtesy of multiple news sources.

NY AG Eric Schneiderman

NY AG Eric Schneiderman

Less than two months after N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman levied charges against Barclays that it deliberately misled investors in its dark pool, regulators are reportedly looking into operations at five more investment banks. No specific allegations have been revealed, but several firms have confirmed that either Schneiderman’s office or another agency is investigating their practices.

The latest additions to the list of firms under scrutiny by the N.Y. attorney general’s office are Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, according to The Fox Business Network, which cited people with direct knowledge of matter as sources. Neither firm has publicly acknowledged an investigation, but they also would not deny the scrutiny, according to the report.

Press officials at both firms as well as at the N.Y. attorney general’s office all declined comment.

One week ago, Credit Suisse revealed that regulators have asked the firm for information about its alternative trading system (ATS) as part of an investigation into dark pools. Credit Suisse said it was cooperating with “various governmental and regulatory authorities” regarding its ATS but would not specify which regulators were investigating, according to the Wall Street Journal. The bank further said that it is one of 30 defendants named in lawsuits related to high-frequency trading or other alleged violations filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Days earlier, UBS and Deutsche Bank disclosed that they were the subject of inquiries. UBS said that it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the N.Y. attorney general’s office and other regulators as part of an industry-wide investigation, according to the New York Times.

“These inquiries include an SEC investigation that began in early 2012 concerning features of UBS’s ATS, including certain order types and disclosure practices that were discontinued two years ago,” the firm said, according to the New York Times article.

At the same time, it was reported that Deutsche Bank separately disclosed it had been contacted by regulators. Deutsche Bank did not reveal which regulators had contacted the firm, but the New York Times report cited an unnamed source familiar with the matter as saying that the N.Y. attorney general’s office was investigating.  Deutsche Bank and UBS both said they were cooperating with authorities.