Pharming announces €12.0 million private equity placement with institutional investors
October 09 2013 - 1:00AM
Leiden, the Netherlands, October 09, 2013. Biotech
company Pharming Group NV ("Pharming" or "the Company") (NYSE
Euronext: PHARM) today announced that it has entered into a private
equity placement of €12.0 million (€11.5 million net proceeds after
subtraction of transaction fees) with existing and new
institutional investors. Participating institutional investors
include current shareholders Deerfield Management Company, Kingdon
Capital Management and Broadfin Capital.
The placement is priced at €0.117
per share, which represents a 10% discount to last night's closing
price of €0.13 per share. A total of 102,564,103 shares will be
issued to the investors. In addition the investors will receive
25,641,026 Warrants with a strike price of €0.135. The exercise
period of the warrants is five years.
Sijmen de Vries, Pharming CEO,
said: "I am pleased that, ahead of the April FDA decision on the
Ruconest® BLA, our existing institutional shareholders have
demonstrated their belief in the potential of the Company by
increasing their holding. I am also pleased to note that new
institutional shareholders have decided to also take a position in
our Company. This private placement represents an important
strengthening of our balance sheet, not only does it allow us to
continue to fund the manufacturing of new Ruconest inventory in
preparation for a US launch and roll-out, it also allows us to fund
the planned US clinical trial for prophylaxis of HAE together with
our US partner Santarus, (NASDAQ:SNTS)."
After completion of this
transaction the number of outstanding shares will increased from
229,870,216 to 332,434,319. The new shares will be admitted to
listing and trading on Euronext Amsterdam pursuant to a listing
prospectus which is expected to be published next week upon AFM
approval on the Company's website and on the AFM website.
Roth Capital Partners acted as the
lead placement agent to Pharming in this transaction.
ENDS
About Pharming Group NV
Pharming Group NV is developing
innovative products for the treatment of unmet medical needs.
RUCONEST® (conestat alfa) is a recombinant human C1 esterase
inhibitor approved for the treatment of angioedema attacks in
patients with HAE in all 27 EU countries plus Norway, Iceland and
Liechtenstein, and is distributed in the EU by Swedish Orphan
Biovitrum. RUCONEST® is partnered with Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:
SNTS) in North America and a Biologics License Application (BLA)
for RUCONEST® is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. The product is also being evaluated for various
follow-on indications. Pharming has a unique GMP compliant,
validated platform for the production of recombinant human proteins
that has proven capable of producing industrial volumes of high
quality recombinant human protein in a more economical way compared
to current cell based technologies. In July 2013, the Platform was
partnered with Shanghai Institute for Pharmaceutical Industry
(SIPI), a Sinopharm Company, for joint global development of new
products. Pre- clinical development and manufacturing will take
place at SIPI and are funded by SIPI. Pharming and SIPI initially
plan to utilise this platform for the development of rhFVIII for
the treatment of Haemophilia A. Additional information is available
on the Pharming website, www.pharming.com.
Additional information is
available on the Pharming website, www.pharming.com.
This press release contains
forward looking statements that involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from the results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by these forward looking statements.
Contact
Pharming :
Sijmen de Vries, CEO: T: +31 71 524 7400
FTI
Consulting :
Julia Phillips/ John Dineen, T: +44 (0)207 269 7193
Press release (PDF)
This
announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson
Reuters clients.
The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Pharming Group N.V. via Thomson Reuters ONE
HUG#1734470