Oncimmune Holdings PLC (LON:ONC), a leading early cancer detection company developing and commercialising its proprietary EarlyCDT®platform technology, yesterday announced a proposed placing to raise up to £5.3 million, (£5.0 million net of estimated expenses), by way of the conditional placing (“Placing”) of up to 4,416,666 new ordinary shares (“Placing Shares”) at a price of 120 pence per share (the “Issue Price”) with existing and new institutional investors. The Placing Shares to be issued pursuant to the proposed Placing will represent approximately 7.96 per cent. of the Enlarged Issued Share Capital of the Company. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all other respects with the Company’s Existing Ordinary Shares.
The Placing Shares are being offered by way of an accelerated bookbuild (“Bookbuild”) on the Company’s behalf by the Company’s sole bookrunner, Zeus Capital Limited (“Zeus Capital”). The Bookbuild will be launched immediately following this announcement. The timing of the closing of the Bookbuild, the final number and allocation of Placing Shares to be issued at the Placing Price are to be determined at the discretion of the Company and Zeus Capital. A further announcement will be made following closing of the Placing, confirming the final details of the fundraising.
The Board believes that the Net Proceeds of the Placing of approximately £5.0 million, along with the Company’s existing cash and cash equivalents, would provide sufficient capital to strengthen its balance sheet to support the completion of major distribution deals in the following areas:
• USA for EarlyCDT®-Lung;
• China for EarlyCDT®-Lung and
• “Fingerprint” – a personalised autoantibody profiling approach
Following completion of the major distribution deals, the cash will be used for:
• R&D
• Additional NHS studies to accelerate adoption
• Additional markers for lung test in the US to enhance its “pulmonology test”
• Validation and launch of liver test
• Further validation of fingerprinting
• Marketing to general practices in the US
In addition, the Board intends to progress development of its other products (ovarian tests) through to commercial launch, which it considers to be another key step for the Company.
Geoffrey-Hamilton Fairley, Oncimmune’s Chief Executive Officer said: “This proposed fundraise will allow us to continue to deliver on the growth strategy laid out at the time of our IPO involving generating revenue from multiple products, regions and partners and we have already made significant progress in delivering on this. We are confident that Oncimmune is well placed to create and deliver value from our core autoantibody platform in the medium and long term.”
