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, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, NEW ZEALAND OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy
("Faron" or the "Company")
Results of Placing and Subscription
and
Issue of Equity
Successful over-subscribed fundraising of £5.0 million through a Placing and Subscription
TURKU - FINLAND, 11.30 A.M. GMT, 1 March 2017 - Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy ("Faron" or "Company") (LON: FARN), the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce that, following the announcement on 28 February 2017, the proposed Placing and Subscription has been subscribed in full, in fulfilment of the Placee Condition, and all subscription monies have now been received by the Company. Pursuant to the Placing and Subscription, the Company is raising approximately £5.0 million before expenses by way of the Placing of 1,362,340 Placing Shares and the Subscription of 60,000 Subscription Shares at the Issue Price of 350 pence per share. The Placing and Subscription have been supported by the participation of existing and new institutional shareholders. The Board of Directors of Faron has resolved on the issuance of the Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares pursuant to the authorisation granted by the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in May 2016 and approved the subscriptions. The Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares are expected to be registered with the Finnish Trade Register on or about today, 1 March 2017.
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for admission to trading on AIM of the 1,422,340 Placing Shares and Subscription Shares (in aggregate) ("Admission"), and it is expected that Admission will take place at 8:00 a.m. on Friday 3 March 2017.
The Placing Shares and Subscription Shares will, when registered, be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares, including the right to receive all dividends or other distributions made, paid or declared in respect of such shares after the date of registration of the Placing Shares and Subscription Shares with the Finnish Trade Register.
Faron's enlarged issued number of shares immediately following registration and Admission will be 27,734,044 Ordinary Shares with voting rights attached. The Company has no shares in Treasury; therefore upon, and subject to, registration, the total number of voting rights in Faron will be 27,734,044 (the "Enlarged Number of Shares and Votes"). This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify an interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Enlarged Number of Shares and Votes of the Company.
Commenting on the successful Placing and Subscription, Dr Markku Jalkanen, CEO of Faron, said:
"We are delighted by the interest we have received in this oversubscribed financing round, and would like to thank our existing and new institutional investors for their support and continued committment to Faron. This funding will be invaluable as we continue the advancement of our programmes during what is set to be a pivotal year for the Company. As well as expecting to receive data from our Phase III INTEREST trial in the second half of the year, we can now look forward to expanding the pre-clinical and planned clinical development of Clevegen into further solid tumour indications including ovarian, pancreatic and melanoma. We believe that Clevegen's ability to remove immune suppressision around tumours will be the next important step in the fight against tumour growth and spread, and could lead to complete cancer remission as well as providing long term vaccination against future tumours from the patient's own immune system."
The information contained within this announcement constitutes inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
All capitalised terms in this announcement are with reference to the announcement made by Faron at 7.00 a.m. on 28 February 2017.
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy
Dr Markku Jalkanen, Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: investor.relations@faronpharmaceuticals.com
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Chris Welsh, Lindsey Neville, Rosie Phillips
Phone: +44 203 709 5700
E-Mail: Faron@consilium-comms.com
Westwicke Partners, IR (US)
Chris Brinzey
Phone: +1 339 970 2843
E-Mail: chris.brinzey@westwicke.com
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, Nominated Adviser
Emma Earl, Tony Rawlinson, Rebecca Anderson
Phone: +44 207 213 0880
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited, Lead Bookrunner and Corporate Broker
Freddy Crossley, Duncan Monteith (Corporate Finance)
Tom Salvesen (Corporate Broking)
Phone: +44 207 886 2500
Whitman Howard Limited, Joint Corporate Broker
Ranald McGregor-Smith, Francis North
Phone: +44 207 659 1234
About Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy
Faron is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for medical conditions with significant unmet needs. The Company currently has a pipeline focusing on acute organ traumas, cancer immunotherapy and vascular damage. The pipeline is built on Faron's scientific knowledge and control of the endothelial barrier, the membrane of cells lining blood and lymphatic vessels to separate blood content from tissues. The Company's lead candidate Traumakine is in development for the treatment of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome ("ARDS"), a rare, severe, life-threatening medical condition characterised by widespread inflammation in the lungs. Traumakine is currently in pan-European (INTEREST) and Japanese pivotal Phase III studies, and is commencing a European Phase II trial for the Rupture of Abdominal Aorta Aneurysm ("RAAA"). Additionally, Faron is developing Clevegen® a ground breaking pre-clinical anti-Clever-1 antibody. Clevegen has the ability to convert the immune environment around a tumour from being immune suppressive to immune stimulating. This novel macrophage-directed immuno-oncology approach is called Tumour Immunity Enabling Technology ("TIET") and can be used alone or in combination with other immune checkpoint molecules for the treatment of cancer patients. New application opportunities related to TIET cover chronic infections and inefficient vaccination. Based in Turku, Finland, Faron Pharmaceuticals is listed on AIM under the ticker 'FARN'. Further information is available at www.faronpharmaceuticals.com
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements included herein express Faron Pharmaceutical's expectations or estimates of future performance and constitute "Forward-looking Statements". Forward-looking Statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Faron Pharmaceuticals are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Such Forward-looking Statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements to be materially different from estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those Forward-looking Statements and, as such, the Forward-looking Statements are not guarantees of future performance.