2 Aug 2018 07:00
ADVANCED ONCOTHERAPY PLC
("Advanced Oncotherapy" or the "Company")
£6.41m Placing with Swiss based Investors & Healthcare Providers
Advanced Oncotherapy (AIM: AVO), the developer of next-generation proton therapy systems for cancer treatment, announces that it has successfully raised £6.41m (before expenses) through the issue of 13,086,859 new ordinary shares of 25 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") in the capital of the Company at a price of 49 pence per share to a number of new investors based in Switzerland and certain directors of the Company (the "Placing").
The Placing, undertaken by Geneva based Synergy Wealth Management SA, has attracted a number of prominent Swiss Private Banks, including healthcare providers based in Switzerland participating in the Placing alongside them.
The funds will be used for general working capital purposes as the Company continues the development of its first LIGHT system, for software development and costs relating to the new testing and assembly site being installed at the UK Government's Science and Technology Facilities Council at Daresbury. The additional funding will also be used for development extending beyond the key milestone of creating a beam capable of treating superficial tumours, which remains on track to be completed by the end of Q3 this year.
In addition, the Company has granted warrants to participants of the Placing to subscribe for one five-year warrant for every five new Ordinary Shares at a price of 100p per Ordinary Share (the "Warrants").
Non-Executive Directors Dr Nick Plowman, Henri Vanni, and Hans Van Celsing have agreed to subscribe in total for 540,204 Ordinary Shares at a price of 49 pence per Ordinary Share and will therefore also receive one Warrant for every five Ordinary Shares they subscribed to.
The participations of certain directors in the transaction set out above and their resulting holdings in the enlarged share capital of the Company will be as follows:
Number of newly subscribed shares | Total number of shares held after the Placing | Percentage of enlarged share capital held after the Placing | |
Dr. Nick Plowman, NED | 306,122 | 4,084,354 | 2.42% |
Henri Vanni, NED | 204,082 | 1,926,361 | 1.14% |
Hans Van Celsing, NED | 30,000 | 30,000 | 0.02% |
Admission
Application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") which is expected to occur on or around 31 August 2018.
Following Admission, the Company's enlarged issued share capital will comprise 168,716,092 Ordinary Shares, with voting rights. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, the total number of Ordinary Shares in the Company with voting rights will be 168,716,092. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Related party transactions
Dr Nick Plowman, Henri Vanni and Hans Van Celsing are non-executive directors of the Company. Accordingly, their participation in the Placing if aggregated with transactions by them with the Company in the previous 12 months, is deemed to be a related party transaction pursuant to rules 13 and 16 of the AIM Rules for Companies. The independent directors of the Company, having consulted with the Company's Nominated Adviser, Stockdale Securities Limited, consider that the terms of their participation in the Placing are fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.
Commenting, Nicolas Serandour, CEO of Advanced Oncotherapy, said: "This additional funding, alongside the funds raised earlier in the year, provides us with a solid base to develop our LIGHT system beyond our next key milestone of being able to treat superficial tumours. I am delighted that new investors and prominent healthcare providers in Switzerland are supporting our goal to make our unique proton therapy technology available to patients around the world. Our next-generation technology has strong links with Switzerland given the roots of the technology grew out from CERN and that our ADAM testing facility is based on the CERN campus."
For further information, please contact:
Advanced Oncotherapy Plc | www.avoplc.com |
Dr. Michael Sinclair, Executive Chairman | Tel: +44 20 3617 8728 |
Nicolas Serandour, CEO | |
Stockdale Securities (Nomad & Joint Broker) | |
Antonio Bossi / Ed Thomas | Tel: +44 20 7601 6100 |
Stifel Nicolaus Europe (Joint Broker) | |
Jonathan Senior | Tel: +44 20 7710 7600 |
Walbrook PR (Financial PR & IR) | Tel: +44 20 7933 8780 or avo@walbrookpr.com |
Paul McManus / Anna Dunphy | Mob: +44 7980 541 893 / Mob: +44 7876 741 001 |
About Advanced Oncotherapy Plc www.avoplc.com
Advanced Oncotherapy is a provider of particle therapy with protons that harnesses the best in modern technology. Advanced Oncotherapy's team "ADAM", based in Geneva, focuses on the development of a proprietary proton accelerator called Linac Image Guided Hadron Technology (LIGHT). LIGHT's compact configuration delivers proton beams in a way that facilitates greater precision and electronic control which is not achievable with older technologies.
Advanced Oncotherapy will offer healthcare providers affordable systems that will enable them to treat cancer with an innovative technology as well as lower treatment related side effects.
Advanced Oncotherapy continually monitors the market for any emerging improvements in delivering proton therapy and actively seeks working relationships with providers of these innovative technologies. Through these relationships, the Company will remain the prime provider of an innovative and cost-effective system for particle therapy with protons.