Date: 2012-12-07
Type of information: Private placement
Company: Epistem (UK)
Investors:
Amount: £ 4.3 million (€ 5.3 million)
Funding type: placement of new ordinary shares
Planned used: The net proceeds of the placing will provide additional development capital for the Company as it approaches the anticipated commercial launch of Genedrive™, its new molecular diagnostic device and its first tuberculosis assay. As announced in the Company\'s preliminary results issued on 16 October 2012, the Company\'s collaborations with Becton Dickinson and Xcelris Laboratories include escalating annual volume requirements for units and assays with each contract capable of delivering revenues to Epistem in excess of $20m-30m per annum over the next 3-5 years. The Company anticipates a significant step up in its working capital requirements with its first regulated test on Genedrive™ for the tuberculosis market expected to generate initial sales in Q1 2013. Regulatory approval of the tuberculosis assay specific to the Indian subcontinent is expected in H1 2013. The launch will also signal the rapid acceleration and development of an extensive range of assays to exploit the substantial opportunities available to the Genedrive™ platform. These assays will cover tests for infectious diseases including malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, HIV, HCV and a panel of sexually transmitted diseases. Alongside infectious disease opportunities, the Company will increase investment in the development of oncology, biosurveillance and forensics test targets. The placing will fund an increase in resource and personnel dedicated to Genedrive™ as well as capital expenditure to significantly improve production capabilities and is aimed at establishing Genedrive™ as the leading molecular diagnostic platform for speed to result, ease of use, cost and scope of testing in near patient settings where the Directors believe the Company currently holds a significant advantage in comparison with other technologies in development. Finally, the net proceeds of the Placing will provide the Company with a strengthened balance sheet and enhance the Company\'s ability to pursue a range of strategic options in the future as the Company\'s various operating divisions continue to develop.
Others: Epistem, a biotechnology and personalised medicine company, has agreed to raise approximately £4.3 million before expenses through a placing for cash of 793,398 new ordinary shares of 1.5 pence each with a range of existing and new institutional investors.
The new ordinary shares, which represent 8.9 per cent. of Epistem\'s issued share capital (being the Company\'s entire section 551 authority approved by shareholders at the 2011 annual general meeting), have been conditionally placed at a price of 545 pence per share. This placing price equates to a 4.0 per cent. discount to the closing middle market price on 6 December 2012. Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission in respect of 793,398 new ordinary shares is expected to be effective on 13 December 2012. When issued, the new ordinary shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company\'s existing ordinary shares. Following completion of the placing, Epistem will have 9,659,707 ordinary shares of 1.5 pence each in issue.
Therapeutic area: Diagnostic
