LAVAL, QC, April 29 /CNW Telbec/ - LAB Research Inc. (“LAB Research” or the “Company”) (TSX: LRI - News), a Canadian-based global non-clinical contract research organization, today announced having secured a $7.5 million loan from Investissement Québec, a Quebec government agency, as part of its “Renfort” program. The proceeds will be used for general working purposes. The loan is expected to be disbursed in various tranches before the end of May 2009. The disbursement of some tranches will be subject to various conditions.
The Renfort program aims at providing working capital support to growing and profitable companies. Under the terms of the agreement, repayment of principal is scheduled to start during the first quarter of 2011. The loan which will bear interest at a floating rate will be secured by the Company’s Canadian assets. Finally, subject to regulatory approvals (including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”)), LAB Research will also issue to Investissement Québec warrants to acquire 897,290 common shares of LAB Research at a price corresponding to the weighted average trading price of the Company’s common shares on the TSX for the five days preceding the issuance of the warrants and expiring 3 years and 9 months after their issuance.
“We are pleased to have received this loan from Investissement Québec. It allows us to immediately strengthen our working capital which was partly used to finance our last Canadian expansion. This marginally dilutive financing will also help negotiations aimed at solving the covenant breaches on the loans granted by our Canadian bank” said Mr. Luc Mainville, Chief Executive Officer and President of LAB Research. “Since the beginning of 2009, we have focused our attention on solving each and every corporate issues negatively impacting our Company. Our liquidity situation having been addressed successfully, we are now concentrating our efforts on improving each of our site’s performance. We look forward to report on the progress made to date when disclosing our first quarter of 2009 results scheduled to be released early May 2009 and we remain more than ever solely committed to the continuous improvement of our financial performance and profitability over the coming quarters” added Mr. Mainville.
About LAB Research Inc.:
LAB Research is a Canadian global non-clinical contract research organization that provides contract research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agro-chemical, petro-chemical and industrial markets. LAB Research supports the development of its customers’ products from three state-of-the-art facilities located in Canada, Denmark and Hungary.
LAB Research’s shares trade on the TSX under the symbol “LRI”, with 18.1 million shares outstanding.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of LAB Research Inc. with respect to its performance, business and future events. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and events may vary significantly.
For further information
Luc Mainville, Chief Executive Officer, (450) 973-2240 (ext. 1206), mainvillel@labresearch.com, www.labresearch.com Frédéric Dumais, Partner, Jasmin-Dumais Financial Communications, (514) 862-1251, fred@comjamais.com