Well, WHT secured some more money. Looks like a good deal for the purchasers of warrants, if you believe the company will succeed. I don't get the funding of a separate organization though. Must be some tax benefits...
WORLD HEART CORPORATION
ANNOUNCES $20,152,000 SPECIAL WARRANT FINANCING
OTTAWA, Ontario – December 5, 2001: (TSE: WHT, NASDAQ: WHRT) World Heart Corporation (“WorldHeart” or the “Corporation”) announces that it has agreed to sell, on a private placement basis, through a syndicate led by Yorkton Securities Inc and including First Associates Investments Inc., 3,027,000 special warrants (“Special Warrants”) at a price of Cdn $5.50 per Special Warrant, for gross proceeds of $16,648,500. Each Special Warrant is exercisable, without additional consideration, for one Unit, with each Unit representing one common share of the Corporation, and one warrant to purchase a common share. Each warrant will be exercisable into one common share at an exercise price of Cdn $6.01 per share for a period of two years. The Corporation also announced that in a separate transaction, a labour sponsored venture capital corporation will purchase, at a price of Cdn $5.50 per share, shares of a new research and development corporation which will use the gross proceeds of $3,503,500 to fund clinical trials and product development expenses related to WorldHeart's ongoing activities. These shares will be exchangeable for an equivalent number of Units. The total gross proceeds from both transactions, which are expected to close on, or about, December 17, 2001, are $20,152,000. The underwriters have been granted an option to purchase up to an additional 910,000 Special Warrants exercisable until December 21, 2001 on the same terms on behalf of a single Health Care Fund.
WorldHeart currently has 14,943,127 common shares issued and outstanding.
WorldHeart intends to use the proceeds from these private placements towards continued funding of its pre-clinical and clinical trials for its HeartSaver VAD, clinical trial funding and marketing expenses related to its Novacor LVAS, and general corporate purposes.
The transactions are subject to the approval of The Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq and also require approval by the holders of a majority of the Corporation’s issued common shares. The Special Warrants and the underlying common shares will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons unless an exemption from such registration is available. |
