OctoPlus announces successful equity raising of € 4 million
OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus", or the "Company") (Euronext: OCTO) announces today
that it has successfully completed an equity raising of
€ 4 million through a private placement of ordinary shares with new and existing
investors, including a participation by its CEO elect, Jan Egberts (the "Private
Placement").
The Private Placement has allowed OctoPlus to place 3,343,542 new shares (9.99%
of the outstanding shares) with a range of domestic and international investors
and qualified institutional investors in the United States at a price of € 1.18
per share, a discount of less than 2% on the closing price of 17 December.
OctoPlus intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement for working
capital purposes and to retain upside by co-investing along with clients in
selected high-value projects.
Jan Egberts, CEO elect of OctoPlus, says: "We have made strong progress in
restructuring OctoPlus: operating cash outflow for the second half of 2010 will
be less than 50% of the cash outflow during the first half of the year. This
financing strengthens our cash position, which in combination with the ongoing
strong performance of our core service business positions OctoPlus well for the
future. I am particularly pleased about the strong interest that we received
from both new and existing investors. As a result, the transaction was
significantly oversubscribed which resulted in a very small discount of less
than 2%. The proceeds of the Private Placement will allow us to co-invest in
promising customer-funded projects in which we want to retain more of the
economic upside of our proprietary technologies."
As a result of the Private Placement, the total number of ordinary shares
outstanding has increased to 36,778,974. The newly issued shares are expected to
be admitted to listing and trading on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext
("Euronext Amsterdam") on 23 December 2010.
Petercam Nederland N.V. acted as lead manager, coordinator and financial advisor
to OctoPlus in relation to the Offering.
For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications: telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071, or
send an e-mail to Investor Relations at IR@octoplus.nl.
About OctoPlus
OctoPlus is a specialty pharmaceutical company committed to the creation of
improved pharmaceutical products that are based on OctoPlus' proprietary
formulation technologies and have fewer side effects, improved patient
convenience and improved efficacy/safety balance over existing therapies.
OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled release versions
of known protein therapeutics, other drugs, and vaccines on behalf of its
clients.
The clinically most advanced product incorporating our technology is Biolex
Therapeutics' lead product Locteron(®), a controlled release formulation of
interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. OctoPlus licensed
Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008. Locteron is being manufactured
for Biolex by OctoPlus and has recently completed Phase IIb clinical studies
with superior clinical data versus current treatment.
In addition, OctoPlus is a leading European provider of advanced drug
formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and
biotechnology industries, with a focus on difficult-to-formulate active
pharmaceutical ingredients.
OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the symbol OCTO.
For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our website www.octoplus.nl.
This announcement is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy
the securities of OctoPlus (the "Securities") in the United States or in any
other jurisdiction.
The Securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S.
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be
offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of,
U.S. persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act)
unless registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from such
registration is available. No public offering of Securities of OctoPlus is being
made in the United States.
This announcement does not constitute a prospectus. When made generally
available, copies of the prospectus may be obtained at no cost through the
website of Euronext Amsterdam and the website of the Authority for the Financial
Markets.
This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to the
business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus and the industry in
which it operates. These statements are based on OctoPlus' current plans,
estimates and projections, as well as its expectations of external conditions
and events. In particular the words "expect", "anticipate", "predict",
"estimate", "project", "plan", "may", "should", "would", "will", "intend",
"believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. We caution investors that a number of important factors, and the
inherent risks and uncertainties that such statements involve, could cause
actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any
forward-looking statements. In the event of any inconsistency between an English
version and a Dutch version of this document, the English version will prevail
over the Dutch version.
Click here for the press release in PDF format:
http://hugin.info/137076/R/1474296/410615.pdf
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(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: OctoPlus N.V. via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1474296]
