Funding to accelerate the development of Affimers as a new bio-therapeutic platform
• Addressing a c.$85 billion market opportunity
• Affimers are an engineered alternative to antibodies that:
o Address the performance limiting factors of antibodies; and
o Have competitive advantages in many applications
• Strategy focused on developing a pipeline of therapeutic Affimer assets whilst accelerating Affimers into the clinic with partners and through an in-house development programme
Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the global provider of proprietary diagnostic tools, consumables and reagents for life sciences, announces today that it has raised, subject to certain conditions, up to £22.0 million (before expenses) by way of a placing of up to 1,760,000,000 new Ordinary Shares with both new and existing institutional shareholders at a price of 1.25 pence per Ordinary Share. The Placing Price represents an approximate 2.0 per cent. discount to the Closing Price of 1.275 pence per Ordinary Share on 14 July 2015 (being the last Business Day prior to the announcement of the Placing). A copy of the circular and the Notice of General Meeting to amongst other things approve the Placing will be posted later today and will also be available from the Company’s website at: www.avacta.com.
The net proceeds of the Placing of approximately £21.0 million will be used to accelerate the Group’s development of the Affimer technology as a bio-therapeutic platform, to continue the development of the Group’s current therapeutic Affimer assets, to initiate several more in-house pre-clinical drug development programmes and to develop a small range of platform technologies for half-life extension, targeting and combination therapies.
Alastair Smith, Chief Executive of Avacta, commented: “We have made excellent progress in demonstrating the potential of the Affimer technology as a bio-therapeutic platform to rival antibodies. We believe our proprietary Affimer technology has significant competitive advantages that address the limitations of antibodies and other non-antibody protein scaffolds which suggests that they have the potential to become a leading alternative bio-therapeutic platform. This fundraising will allow us to resource the development of Affimers as therapeutics, in addition to the ongoing development and commercialisation of Affimers as research reagents, and we thank our existing investors for their continuing support and welcome a number of new investors.”
The Placing Shares will, upon Admission, rank pari passu in all respects with the Ordinary Shares in issue as at that date, including the right to receive all dividends or other distributions declared, made or paid after Admission. The Placing Shares will represent approximately 26.1 per cent. of the Company’s enlarged issued ordinary share capital immediately following completion of the Placing.
Further details of the Placing are below.
For further information:
Avacta Group plc
Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer
Tim Sykes, Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +44 (0) 844 414 0452
www.avacta.com
Numis Securities Limited
Michael Meade / Freddie Barnfield – Nominated Adviser
James Black – Corporate Broking
Tel: +44 (0) 207 260 1000
www.numiscorp.com
WG Partners LLP – Joint Broker
David Wilson
Claes Spång
Tel: +44 (0) 203 705 9330
www.wgpartners.co.uk
Media Enquiries
FTI Consulting
Simon Conway/Natalie Garland-Collins
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000
avacta@fticonsulting.com
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