Prana Announces Successful A$7 million Capital Raising
Melbourne – March 27, 2013 Prana Biotechnology (NASDAQ:PRAN; ASX:PBT), today announced that it has secured funding of A$7 million through a placement of approximately 35.9 million fully paid ordinary shares at a price of A$0.195 per share (equivalent to approximately US$2.03 per Nasdaq listed ADR).
The funding amount includes A$2 million as part of a underwritten Share Purchase Plan (SPP).
The placement attracted strong demand from a range of Australian Institutions and High Net Worth Investors. The placement was managed by JM Financial Group Limited, based in Melbourne, Australia.
Capital is being raised by Prana in order to accelerate the regulatory pathway of its key clinical asset PBT2, now in two concurrent Phase II clinical trials in Huntington Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. Recruitment was completed for both clinical trials on time and within budget. Results are expected to be reported in October 2013 for Huntington’s Disease and 1Q 2014 for Alzheimer’s Disease.
Chairman and CEO Geoffrey Kempler said, "these funds allow us to accelerate our drug development schedule and move towards commercialization of PBT2 a year sooner than would otherwise be possible. We are grateful for the support of both our existing and new investors.”
Share Purchase Agreement (SPP)
Prana will offer eligible shareholders the right to participate in the SPP which will enable shareholders to apply for up to A$15,000 of shares (subject to any scale back) at the same price as the Placement. The first A$2 million under the SPP will be underwritten by JM Financial Group Ltd.
The maximum amount to be raised under the SPP is A$4 million. The SPP will be available to all eligible shareholders who were on the Company’s share register as at 7.00 pm AEDT on Tuesday 26th March 2013 (record date).
The SPP will allow each eligible shareholder to apply for up to approximately 76,900 new fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of A$0.195 per share (a total of A$15,000). The full terms of the SPP offer, and how to accept and apply for new shares will be set out in an SPP Offer document which will be sent to all eligible shareholders.
The subscription price of the shares to be offered under the Plan represents a 13.3% discount to the market closing price on the ASX as at the Record Date.
The funds raised under the Offer will be used to accelerate the regulatory pathway of the Company’s key clinical asset, PBT2, as referred to above.
The proposed timetable for the SPP is as follows:
Indicative Timetable | |
Record Date | 26 March 2013 |
Announcement of Share Purchase Plan | 27 March 2013 |
Dispatch of Offer and Application Forms to Eligible Shareholders
|
11 April 2013 |
Share Purchase Plan Opens |
11 April 2013 |
Share Purchase Plan Offer Closes |
26 April 2013 |
Allotment and Issue of SPP Shares
|
3 May 2013 |
Dispatch of Holding Statements |
8 May 2013 |
Quotation of SPP Shares on ASX |
9 May 2013 |
Subject to the ASX Listing Rules and Corporations Act, the Company reserves the right to vary the above dates in consultation with the Underwriter. If the Offer is oversubscribed, the Company in consultation with the Underwriter reserves the right to close the Offer early.
The above timetable is subject to change – shareholders should consult the SPP offer document which will be mailed to them.
The Company will apply for quotation of the new shares issued under the SPP. The new shares will rank equally in all respects with the Company’s existing fully paid ordinary shares.