1 Oct 2018 12:20
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN, IS RESTRICTED AND IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICES AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR ISSUE OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, SUBSCRIBE FOR OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRE ANY NEW ORDINARY SHARES OF PREMAITHA HEALTH PLC IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO. 596/2014 ("MAR"). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
1 October 2018
Premaitha Health PLC
("Premaitha" or the "Company")
Result of Fundraise
Premaitha Health PLC (AIM: NIPT), a leading international molecular diagnostics group focused on non-invasive prenatal testing ("NIPT"), is pleased to announce that, further to the announcement of 28 September 2018, the Company has now closed the Fundraise and successfully raised gross proceeds of £3.0 million consisting of 22,000,000 new Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Placing and 8,000,000 new Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Subscription, all at a price of 10 pence per New Ordinary Share (the "Placing Price").
Application for Admission
Application has been made for the Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission of 9,833,580 First Tranche Placing Shares is expected to become effective on or around 4 October 2018 ("First Tranche Admission"). Admission of the 12,166,420 Second Tranche Placing Shares and 8,000,000 Subscription Shares is expected to become effective on or around 25 October 2018 ("Second Tranche Admission"). All of the Subscription Shares will be admitted in the Second Tranche.
Following First Tranche Admission, the Company will have 396,677,103 Ordinary Shares in issue. Following Second Tranche Admission, the Company will have 416,843,523 Ordinary Shares in issue. All Ordinary Shares have equal voting rights and none of the Ordinary Shares are held in treasury. The total number of voting rights in the Company immediately following Second Tranche Admission will therefore be 416,843,523.
Director Shareholdings
Certain Directors subscribed for shares in the Fundraise. Following the Second Tranche Admission, the Directors shareholdings are as follows:
Director | Ordinary Shares held prior to the Fundraise | Subscription Shares subscribed for | Ordinary Shares held following Second Tranche Admission | Percentage of enlarged issued share capital following Second Tranche Admission
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Dr Bill Chang | 67,855,996 | 7,000,000 | 74,855,996 | 17.96% |
Lyn Rees | 0 | 500,000 | 500,000 | 0.12% |
Dr Stephen Little | 5,328,283 | 250,000 | 5,578,283 | 1.34% |
Adam Reynolds | 4,699,656 | 250,000 | 4,949,656 | 1.19% |
Adam Reynolds, Non-Executive Chairman of the Company, commented:
"We are pleased with the support of both existing and new investors. The fundraising will enable us to move on from the litigation and to execute on our strategy of becoming a truly global player, capturing a growing share of a multi-billion dollar market for non-invasive prenatal testing"
Enquires
Premaitha Health plc | Tel: +44 (0) 161 667 6865 |
Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Office |
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Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing |
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investors@premaitha.com |
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Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880 |
Liam Murray / James Caithie |
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finnCap (Broker) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
Geoff Nash / Matthew Radley (Corporate Finance) |
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Tim Redfern (Corporate Broking) |
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Vigo Communications | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7390 0234 |
Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia Pollock |
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premaitha@vigocomms.com |
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About Premaitha
Premaitha is an international molecular diagnostics group which uses the latest advances in DNA analysis technology to develop safer, faster and regulatory approved genetic screening tests. The Group's primary focus is on non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for pregnant women - an emerging, multi-billion dollar global market.
Premaitha's IONA® test was launched in 2015 as the first CE-IVD NIPT test in Europe. It enables laboratories and healthcare practitioners to offer a complete CE-marked NIPT system in-house. The IONA® test is performed on a maternal blood sample - which contains traces of placental DNA - and estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions.
Unlike existing prenatal screening methods, due to its high level of accuracy, the IONA® test can significantly reduce the number of women subjected to unnecessary invasive follow up diagnostic procedures, such as amniocentesis, which are costly, resource intensive and carry a risk of miscarriage.
In March 2017, Premaitha acquired Yourgene Bioscience, a specialist next generation sequencing and bioinformatics company based in Taiwan, with its own NIPT screening test that operates on the same Thermo Fisher next-generation sequencing platform as Premaitha's IONA® test. Yourgene brings significant benefits to the Group through expanded market access in Asia - the world's fastest growing NIPT market - as well as opportunities for cross-selling and the ability to jointly develop expanded test content both within NIPT and beyond.
Premaitha is headquartered in Manchester, England, with Yourgene offices in Taipei and Singapore. Its shares trade on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: NIPT). For further information, please visit www.premaitha.com. Follow us on twitter @PremaithaHealth.