Stem cell co Pluristem files to raise $150m on Nasdaq
Sep 27, 2011 (Globes - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Placental stem cell therapeutics developer Pluristem Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq:PSTI; DAX: PJT: PLTR) has filed a shelf prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $150 million in shares, preferred shares, and warrants. The prospectus is valid for three years.
Pluristem did not mention an investment bank to accompany the offerings, if and when they are held, but it might use Needham & Co., which underwrote the company's secondary offering earlier this year. In that offering, Pluristem sought to raise $75 million, but ultimately raised $41.1 million. The shelf prospectus under which that offering was held is still in force, and Pluristem can raise $34 million under it, but the company apparently wants to reserve the option to raise more capital.
Pluristem may find it easier to sell itself to current and new investors in the future, after meeting several milestones in the development of its drugs. In August, it awarded a license to United Therapeutics Corporation (Nasdaq: UTHR) to use its PLacental eXpanded (PLX) cells to develop and commercialize a cell-based product for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension. Pluristem is also carrying out a Phase II/III clinical trial of its most advanced product, PLX-PAD, in patents with critical limb ischemia (obstruction of the arteries).
Pluristem's share price rose 4.2 percent on the American Stock Exchange yesterday to $2.22, giving a market cap of $95 million, and rose 1.8 percent by mid-afternoon on the TASE today to NIS 8.30.
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