Placing & First Day of Dealings

RNS Number : 3051F

WideCells Group PLC

27 July 2016

 

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, SINGAPORE, HONG KONG OR AUSTRALIA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

27 July 2016

WideCells Group PLC ('WideCells Group' or 'the Group')

£2m Placing, Admission to Trading and First Day of Dealings

WideCells Group, the health care services company focused on collecting and storing stem cells and providing ground breaking insurance for stem cell treatment, is pleased to announce that the entire issued share capital of 54,058,061 ordinary shares of 0.25p each ('Ordinary Shares') will today be admitted to the Standard Listing segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the Main Market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange (together 'Admission'). The Company will be trading under the ticker symbol WDC with the ISIN number GB00BD060S65. 

Highlights

·     £2 million raised via a placing, conducted by Vicarage Capital Ltd and Shard Capital Partners, of 18,181,819 ordinary shares at 11p per share

·     Funds raised are intended to build an integrated stem cell services company, focused on promoting stem cell treatments by making them accessible and affordable

·     The Directors believe that the use of cord blood stem cells for transplant will drive one of the next important phases in medicine

·     The Group is developing market leading products in complementary, strategic areas which are designed to take advantage of substantial market opportunities in one of the fastest growing segments in the healthcare industry

·     An experienced senior management team that has been integral to the development of its growth and business to date

o  CEO, João Andrade, COO Lopes Gil and CSO Dr Peter Hollands have between them over 30 years' senior level experience in the stem cell market

o  Further strengthened by the appointment as a non-executive director of Dr Marilyn Orcharton, a qualified dentist and co-founder of Denplan, the UK's dental payment plan specialist

o  Dr Graham Hine, non-executive Chairman, is a technology entrepreneur with a background in leading, growing and successfully exiting technology companies

o  CFO David Bridgland has over 20 years' experience leading companies ranging from privately owned and venture capital backed companies, to major listed companies

WideCells Group CEO Joao Andrade said, "We are the first company ever to create an integrated service offering to combat the financial barriers associated with stem cell treatment, which has enabled us to attract a fantastic board with direct experience of commercialising innovative areas of the medical industry. Currently over 3 million people worldwide have paid c. £2,000 to store stem cells but most are generally unaware that a stem cell treatment can cost up to £300,000 with the vast majority not in a position to afford it.  Our CellPlan healthcare insurance product is the first of its kind to be launched worldwide.  It will make treatment more accessible to those outside of the richest demographics and which we believe will in turn fuel investment into stem cell research, potentially driving one of the next important phases in the medical industry." 

"Our multi-division business will provide many sources of revenues.  We will commence the roll out of CellPlan towards the end of 2016 and we expect to rapidly gain a significant client base considering the millions of people who are already storing stem cells to help protect their families from illness.  Alongside this we expect to add to our portfolio of stem cell storage facilities and are excited to deliver our educational programmes in partnership with the University of Westminster, which we expect to drive uptake of our services, as growing numbers of doctors will be trained in and educated on the benefits of stem cell storage and treatment.  Considering the breadth and relevance of our services and our experienced board, we believe that we are in an excellent position to secure a significant market share in an industry, which has the potential to grow to US$3.5 billion by 2020."

The Company's prospectus in connection with Admission is available on the Company's website www.widecellsgroup.com and is also available at the offices of Fladgate LLP, 16 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5DG.

Placing Statistics (terms defined in the prospectus)

Number of Existing Ordinary Shares	30,400,000
Placing Price	11 pence per Ordinary Share
Number of Placing Shares	18,181,819
Number of Conversion Shares	5,443,515
Number of Fee Shares	32,727
Enlarged Share Capital in issue on Admission following the issue of the Placing Shares, the Conversion Shares and the Fee Shares	54,058,061
Percentage of Enlarged Share Capital represented by the Placing Shares	33.63%
Percentage of the Enlarged Share Capital represented by the Conversion Shares	10.05%
Percentage of the Enlarged Share Capital represented by the Fee Shares	0.06%
Gross proceeds of the Placing	£2,000,000
Proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company (after deduction of transaction costs)	£1,725,000
Aggregate number of Option Shares, Warrant Shares and Broker Warrants	5,649,029
Enlarged Share Capital on a fully diluted basis	59,707,090
Enlarged Share Capital as a percentage of fully diluted capital of the Company	90.54%

In accordance with Disclosure and Transparency Rule 5.6, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately following Admission is 54,058,061, each with equal voting rights. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. This total voting rights figure of 54,058,061 can be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interest in the Company under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit the Company's website www.widecellsgroup.com, follow us on Twitter @WideCells_Group or contact:

WideCells Group	CEO - Joao Andrade	Tel:  [phone]
Vicarage Capital Ltd	Broker - Jeremy Woodgate & Rupert Williams	Tel: [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP	Broker - Damon Heath & Erik Woolgar	Tel: [phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd	PR - Elisabeth Cowell & Charlotte Heap	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

WideCells Group PLC is building an integrated stem cell services company, focused on making stem cell treatments accessible and affordable. The Directors believe that the use of cord blood stem cells for transplant will drive one of the next important phases in medicine and is therefore developing market leading products in complementary, strategic areas which are designed to take advantage of substantial market opportunities in one of the fastest growing segments in the healthcare industry.  With this in mind, it has created three divisions:

·     CellPlan: the world's first stem cell healthcare insurance plan with financial cover for medical treatment, travel and accommodation expenses and concierge service to manage the treatment process

·     WideCells: a portfolio of best in class stem cell processing and cord blood storage facilities with an existing presence in UK and Brazil

·     WideAcademy: developing an education and training division to promote awareness of the benefits of stem cell storage across the global general practice community

The Group has built an experienced senior management team that has been integral to the development of its growth and business to date.

Stem Cell Fast Facts:

·     Cord blood (which is taken from the umbilical cord) provides the most effective source of stem cells for families due to it being simple, safe and painless to collect relative to other sources of stem cells such as bone marrow - WideCells will focus on promoting the collection and storage of this.

·     Since 2005, there has been a 300% increase in the number of illnesses that can be treated using stem cells

·     82 illnesses can currently be treated using stem cell procedures

·     Despite initial storage often costing no more than a few £thousand, actual treatment can cost in the £hundreds of thousands

 

END

 

 

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