Davis Polk advised Biotie Therapies Corp. (“Biotie”) on its $56.7 million U.S. initial public offering of 3,806,047 American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) representing 304,483,760 ordinary shares, which includes 44,629 ADSs subscribed for pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. In addition, the underwriters purchased 519,583 ADSs from UCB S.A., a selling shareholder, pursuant to the over-allotment option. The ADSs are listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “BITI” and the ordinary shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. under the symbol “BTH1V.” Biotie’s offering was the first U.S. initial public offering by a Finnish issuer since 1994 and one of only three ever U.S. initial public offerings by a Finnish issuer.    

Based in Turku, Finland, Biotie is a specialized drug development company focused on products for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Biotie’s development has delivered Selincro (nalmefene) for alcohol dependence, which received European marketing authorization in 2013 and is currently being rolled out across Europe by partner Lundbeck. The current development products include tozadenant for Parkinson’s disease, which is transitioning into Phase 3 development, and two additional compounds which are in Phase 2 development for cognitive disorders including Parkinson’s disease dementia, and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare fibrotic disease of the liver.   

The Davis Polk corporate team included partners Richard D. Truesdell Jr. and Sophia Hudson and associates Jeannette K. Safi, Christopher M. Bezeg and Martin Oberst. The tax team included partner Michael Mollerus and associate Dao Fu. The intellectual property team included associates Natalie A. Thomas and Can Sun. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York office.       

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