RENE.L Regulatory News (RENE)

6 Feb 2007 07:01

ReNeuron Group plc06 February 2007 ReNeuron announces £5.5 million fundraising Guildford, UK, 6 February 2007: ReNeuron Group plc today announces that itproposes to place 18,333,333 new ordinary shares of 1p each credited as fullypaid at a price of 30p per share, to raise £5.5 million before expenses. CollinsStewart Europe Limited acted as nominated adviser and broker to the Company inconnection with the placing. The Directors intend that the proceeds of the placing be used to provide fundingto enable ReNeuron to progress its ReN001 stem cell therapy for stroke into theclinic as well as accelerating the development of the Company's othertherapeutic programmes. Michael Hunt, Chief Executive Officer of ReNeuron, said: "We are delighted to have raised the funds necessary to drive our transition toa clinical stage stem cell development company. The fundraising provides theCompany with a strong financial base which we intend to convert into solidclinical achievement in stroke and accelerated development of a highly promisingpipeline of stem cell therapies addressing other significant areas of unmetmedical need." In conjunction with the placing the Company also proposes to issue 771,368 newordinary shares to StemCells, Inc. (SCI) fully paid up as to nominal valuepursuant to the term of the subscription and share exchange agreement between,inter alia, the Company and SCI dated 5 July 2005 (as amended). A total of19,104,701 new ordinary shares are therefore expected to be issued pursuant tothe placing and the SCI issue, with the shares being admitted to trading on AIMon 12 February 2007. Such new ordinary shares will rank in full for alldividends and otherwise pari passu with all existing ordinary shares. In addition, in connection with the placing the Company proposes to issue688,145 warrants to subscribe new ordinary shares to Collins Stewart. Thewarrants have a three year exercise period and are exercisable at a price of 30pper ordinary share. Enquiries: ReNeuronMichael Hunt, CEO Tel: 44 (0)1483 302 560 Financial DynamicsDavid Yates / Nicola Daley Tel: 44 (0)20 7831 3113 Notes to Editors ReNeuron is a leading, UK-based adult stem cell therapy business. It isapplying its novel stem cell platform technologies in the development ofground-breaking stem cell therapies to serve significant and unmet or poorly-metclinical needs. ReNeuron has used its c-mycER(TAM) technology to generate genetically stableneural stem cell lines. This technology platform has multi-national patentprotection and is fully regulated by means of a chemically-induced safetyswitch. Cell growth can therefore be completely arrested prior to in vivoimplantation. ReNeuron has filed for approval to commence initial clinical studies in the USwith its lead ReN001 stem cell therapy for chronic stroke disability. Thisrepresents the world's first such filing concerning a neural stem cell treatmentfor a major neurological disorder. ReNeuron has also generated pre-clinicalefficacy data with its ReN005 stem cell therapy for Huntington's disease, agenetic and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects around 1 in 10,000people. This programme is in pre-clinical development. In addition to itsstroke and Huntington's disease programmes, ReNeuron is developing stem celltherapies for Parkinson's disease, Type 1 diabetes and diseases of the retina. ReNeuron has also leveraged its stem cell technologies into non-therapeuticareas - its ReNcell(TM) range of cell lines for use in research and in drugdiscovery applications in the pharmaceutical industry. ReNeuron's ReNcell(TM) CX and ReNcell(TM) VM neural cell lines are marketed worldwide under license byMillipore Corporation. ReNeuron's shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L. Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found atwww.reneuron.com. Data sources: UK Stroke Association; American Stroke Association. This announcement contains forward-looking statements with respect to thefinancial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performanceof ReNeuron and certain of the plans and objectives of management of ReNeuronwith respect thereto. These statements may generally, but not always, beidentified by the use of words such as "should", "expects", "estimates","believes" or similar expressions. This announcement also containsforward-looking statements attributed to certain third parties relating to theirestimates regarding the growth of markets and demand for products. By theirnature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because theyreflect ReNeuron's current expectations and assumptions as to future events andcircumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of factors could causeReNeuron's actual financial condition, results of operations and businessachievements/performance to differ materially from the estimates made or impliedin such forward-looking statements and, accordingly, reliance should not beplaced on such statements. The terms 'ReNeuron', 'the Company' or 'the Group' used in this statement referto ReNeuron Group plc and/or its subsidiary undertakings, depending on thecontext. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange