Infigen, Leading Livestock Cloning Firm, Completes First Private Placement
PR Newswire, Wednesday, December 19, 2001 at 09:03
/FROM PR NEWSWIRE NEW YORK 800-776-8090/ [STK] [IN] BIO AGR [SU] FNC TO BUSINESS EDITOR:
Infigen, Leading Livestock Cloning Firm, Completes First Private Placement
Company's Finances Considerably Strengthened by Investments From Major
Institutions; Completes Retirement of Existing Long-Term Debt
DEFOREST, Wis., Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Infigen, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company combining genomics and reproductive technologies to improve human health, announced today the completion of a private placement of preferred stock to individuals and institutions. The investment, the first of its kind for Infigen, included funds from several major institutions, including, ING Barings Capital and private equity firm Ardshiel Inc. Additional details were not disclosed.
Infigen also announced that another investor, WR Grace, has agreed to extend the maturity of its one million dollar Series B preferred stock for five years.
Nuclear transfer-based cloning at Infigen has been found to produce cows and pigs with normal health and genetic characteristics. In a recent four-year long study presented to the National Resources Committee of the National Academy of Sciences, Infigen found that its technology was successful at producing both transgenic cattle (clones genetically altered to produce pharmaceutical proteins on a commercial scale in their milk) and non-transgenic cattle. The efficiency of the Infigen nuclear transfer technology for both cattle and pigs marks it as a commercially viable process. A preliminary analysis of milk of Holsteins cloned by Infigen, also presented to the National Academy of Sciences, found that it is identical to the milk taken from non-cloned cows found in the general population, and is safe for human consumption.
Infigen also noted the recent sale of 600 acres of land near its headquarters in DeForest, Wis. The proceeds from the sale enabled the retirement of all existing long-term debt at the company on October 31st. Additional details were not disclosed.
"These developments, when combined with our existing revenue streams from our research collaborations and existing federal grants, will allow Infigen to advance its cutting edge research," said Walter Simson, Chief Executive Officer of Infigen, Inc. "We appreciate the support and endorsement represented by the investments of these world-class institutions and individuals."
"Infigen is truly creating major new genome-based industries that should meet existing, underserved worldwide markets in both human health and animal agriculture," said Daniel W. Lamprecht, Managing Director, ING (U.S.) Capital LLC. "The company makes consistent advances in nuclear-transfer based cloning, has an aggressive and thoughtful intellectual property development strategy, and careful business management. We are privileged to help them meet their scientific and commercial goals."
Eric Postel, Chief Financial Officer at Infigen, noted that the recent investments mark the first since Infigen's parent company divested its businesses in other industries in order to focus exclusively on biotechnology. "Infigen's new capital structure, particularly the reduction of our long-term debt, means that we can focus completely on advancing the company's business strategy," he said.
ABOUT INFIGEN, INC. AND GENMARK:
Infigen, Inc., formed in August 1997, is a privately-held biotechnology company commercializing its proprietary nuclear transfer cloning in the animal agriculture and human health fields. The company has an existing strategic partnership with Immerge BioTherapeutics, Inc., a joint venture of Novartis Pharma AG and BioTransplant Incorporated (NASDAQ:BTRN), to develop genetically modified miniature swine for the study of xenotransplantation (transplantation between species). In 2000, Infigen was issued a U.S. patent covering critical processes for cloning any mammal, excluding humans, utilizing Nuclear Transfer. The company is the first in North America to have cloned three species of farm animals -- beef and dairy cattle, domestic pigs and sheep. Infigen markets its agricultural products under the trademark name of Genmark. In addition to its AGRICLONING(TM) products, Genmark also markets marker-assisted selection, diagnostic testing, and tissue/cell harvesting and storage. For further inform |
