28 Sep 2012 11:29
AorTech International plc ("Aortech" or "the Company")
End of Offer Period and Update on Fundraising
Further to the last update, discussions have been conducted with a number of the parties which had expressed an interest in potentially making an offer for the issued and to be issued share capital of the Company.
Based on the feedback that has been received from the parties involved in the process, the Board does not currently expect that an offer to acquire the whole Company in a single transaction will now be forthcoming. On this basis, the formal sale process has now ended and the Company is no longer in an Offer Period for the purposes of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.
Although no parties have come forward with an interest in acquiring the Company as a whole, a number of parties expressed interest in acquiring certain of its assets and these have been explored further. A non-binding offer to acquire the Company's polymer business, the related intellectual property and customer contracts has been received. This non-binding offer does not include the heart valve project and the indicative value of the offer is at a discount to the closing market capitalisation of the Company on 27 September 2012.
As announced in the preliminary results released on 4 September 2012 the Directors are exploring a fundraising for the Company. Based on the non binding indicative offer for the Company's polymer business the Directors are now considering funding options to allow the Company to complete this process. In the meantime, the board is continuing to pursue the non-binding offer received for the Company's polymer business while seeking an offer for the heart valve project and will update shareholders further in due course.
Shareholders should note that whilst your Board is working towards the sale of the Company's polymer business, there can be no guarantee that the transaction can be consummated, either at all or on the terms provided in the non-binding offer nor that funding will be available to allow the Company to complete this process. Furthermore, there can be no guarantee that any indicative offers will be forthcoming for the heart valve project or at what level interested parties would be prepared to provide indicative offers for this asset
AorTech International plc
Bill Brown, Chairman
Eddie McDaid, Finance Director
Frank Maguire, CEO
Tel: +1 801 581 0854
Sarah Price, Media Relations
Tel: +1 801 649 4163
e-mail: sprice@AorTech.com
finnCap
Stuart Andrews/Rose HerbertfinnCap as Nominated AdviserTel: 020 7220 0500