Guildford, UK, 22 July 2013: ReNeuron Group plc ("ReNeuron" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has raised a total of £33 million in a financing package that transforms the Company's prospects and helps position it as a global leader in stem cell development.
Highlights
· £25.35 million (before expenses) of firm commitments to be raised through an oversubscribed placing of 1,014,000,000 Placing Shares at an Issue Price of 2.5p to fund its therapeutic programmes through Phase II trials and consequent value inflection.
· £7.8 million to be provided through a grant package from the Welsh Government to establish a cell manufacturing and development facility in South Wales for late stage clinical and commercial product requirements. The Company will move its principal operations to this facility as it is phased in over the next two years.
· Shareholder register transformed with participation of major new life science and generalist investors, including Invesco, Abingworth and the Wales Life Sciences Investment Fund LP, alongside existing holders.
· Issue Price represents a 17.4 per cent discount to the closing mid-market price of an Ordinary Share on 19 July 2013, being the last Business Day prior to this announcement. Issue Price represents a 3.1 per cent discount to the average mid-market price for the last 20 Business Days prior to this announcement.
· The Directors have each agreed to subscribe for shares in the Placing, amounting to a subscription of £110,000 in aggregate.
· Renowned Welsh life sciences entrepreneur, Sir Chris Evans, to be appointed as a non-executive director of the Company upon closing of the Placing.
Completion of the proposed firm Placing is subject inter alia to shareholder approval, which will be sought at a General Meeting of the Company to be held at the offices of Covington & Burling LLP, 265 Strand, London, WC2R 1BH, at 10.30 a.m. on 7 August 2013. Dealings in the New Ordinary Shares issued in the firm Placing are expected to commence shortly thereafter.
A circular providing further details of the Placing will be sent to Shareholders later today. Once it has been posted, a copy of the Circular will be available on the Company's website at www.reneuron.com.
....Commenting on the results and fundraising, Bryan Morton, ReNeuron's Chairman, said:
"Our therapeutic programmes have made considerable progress during the period under review. The Phase I clinical trial of our stem cell therapy candidate for stroke has yielded encouraging data and a Phase II study is planned to commence shortly, as is a Phase I study with our therapeutic candidate for critical limb ischaemia. We expect our stem cell therapy candidate for the blindness-causing disease, retinitis pigmentosa, to enter the clinic next year.
"We have well-defined clinical development plans for these therapeutic programmes and process development plans to both enhance and take control over the manufacture of our stem cell therapy candidates as they get closer to market. Crucially, the business is now fully funded to pursue these plans through to value inflection and commercial deals over the next three years and we look forward to reporting further progress towards that end." |
