Ista Expects Offering to Be Priced Even Lower

Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc., which scaled back its initial public stock offering late last week, expects the stock to be priced even lower when the Irvine company goes public, according to a regulatory document filed Wednesday. The shares, which once were expected to be priced between $13 and $15, probably will be priced at $10.50, generating about half the proceeds Ista had anticipated. The 8-year-old company, which is developing treatments for eye afflictions, initially indicated it hoped to raise more than $57 million when it went public. Last week, the estimated total was lowered to about $35 million. Now, Ista would generate $28 million with its revised IPO, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ista said it expects to offer 3 million shares of common stock at $10.50, down from $12 to $14 per share. Initially, the company said it planned to offer 4.5 million shares with a range of $13 to $15. “It’s a red flag for investors,” said Richard Peterson, a market strategist for Thomson Financial Securities Data in Newark, N.J. The SEC filing gave no reason for the revision, and executives could not be reached for comment.