JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioLineRx Ltd., Israel’s leading drug development company, announced today the pricing of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 28,690,000 shares of common stock at approximately $1.74 per share. The total amount raised in the IPO was $50 million. This marks the largest IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) of a biomedical company. BioLineRx’s common stock will be listed on the TASE under the trading symbol “BLRX”.
BioLineRx also announced today the conversion to equity of a US $9 million convertible loan it received last month from Pan Atlantic Bank and Trust Limited (part of the Friedberg Group).
Clal Finance Underwriting and Leader Capital Markets led the public offering, which included previous investors Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Giza Venture Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, and Hadasit. Prior to the IPO, BioLineRx’s shareholders invested approximately $32 million in the company.
Aharon Schwartz, Ph.D., BioLineRx’s Chairman of the Board and Vice President, Strategic Business Planning and New Ventures, Teva Pharmaceuticals, said, “We are pleased with the unprecedented vote of confidence that we received from the public and institutional investors. BioLineRx is a unique company that combines an impressive management team with a unique and efficient drug development infrastructure supported by the Israeli Office of Chief Scientist through its national biotechnology incubator grant. I am confident that BioLineRx will justify this vote of confidence by advancing the development of novel therapies based on cutting-edge research generated by Israel’s leading academic institutions.”
“We expect to apply this significant capital to the accelerated development of our therapeutic pipeline that currently consists of 10 drug candidates, 3 of which are in clinical studies or are about to enter the clinic,” said Morris C. Laster, MD, CEO of BioLineRx. “In the coming year, we plan to initiate Phase 2 clinical trials of BL-1020, for the treatment of schizophrenia, and a Phase 1/2 study for BL-1040, for the treatment of damaged heart tissue following myocardial infarction. We will also continue to develop and accelerate the remainder of our pipeline and continuously screen and in-license promising new drug candidates.”
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction or state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction or state.
About BioLineRx Ltd.
BioLineRx is Israel’s leading clinical-stage drug development company dedicated to building a robust pipeline of promising therapeutics for unmet medical needs. The company advances projects from early stage discovery and lead generation to advanced clinical trials, regulatory approval and marketing. Partnering with researchers, universities and biotech companies to further the commercialization of promising compounds, BioLineRx seeks to enrich the pipeline of large pharmaceutical companies seeking their next blockbuster drugs. The Company was founded in 2003 by leaders in the Israeli life science arena including Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Giza, Pitango and Hadasit. For more information, please visit www.biolinerx.com.
About Pan Atlantic Bank and Trust Limited
Pan Atlantic Bank and Trust Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of FCMI Financial Corporation, a Canadian company controlled by Albert Dov Friedberg and members of his immediate family. Mr. Friedberg is the founder, president, director and the portfolio manager of the Friedberg Mercantile Group Ltd., a full service brokerage firm and asset manager providing a wide range of financial and investment services to worldwide individual, corporate and institutional clients. He has written and published a number of articles on financial and economic matters, as well as publishing “Friedberg’s Commodity & Currency Comments” analyzing investment trends and strategies related to commodity and currency markets. Mr. Friedberg was appointed by the Premier of the Province of Ontario as one of the five members of the Commodity Futures Advisory Board of Ontario and served as Chairman of the Toronto Futures Exchange for three terms. Contacts
BioLineRx Ltd. Yuri Shoshan, VP Finance and Corporate Development +972-2-548-9100 yuri@biolinerx.com or Stern Investor Relations, Inc. Melanie Friedman, 212-362-1200 melanie@sternir.com or BioLineRx Ltd. Tsipi Haitovsky, Media Liaison, +972-52-598-9892 tsipih@biolinerx.com
