Close of Accelerated Bookbuild

RNS Number : 2248N

Immupharma PLC

21 October 2016

 

21 OCTOBER 2016

ImmuPharma PLC

("ImmuPharma" or the "Company")

Close of Accelerated Bookbuild

ImmuPharma PLC (LSE:IMM), the specialist drug discovery and development company, is pleased to announce that further to the announcement made earlier today entitled "Proposed Accelerated Bookbuild for Vendor Placing and Issue of Equity", the accelerated bookbuild (the "Bookbuild") process has now successfully closed.

The Company has placed 7,100,000 existing ordinary shares of 10p each ("Ordinary Shares") held by Lanstead Capital ("Lanstead") with new and existing institutional investors (the "Vendor Placing") and raised a total of £1 million (before expenses) by way of an issue of 2,857,143 new Ordinary Shares (the "New Placing Shares"), also to new and existing investors (the "New Share Placing"). Both the Vendor Placing and the New Share Placing were executed at 35p (the "Placing Price").

Key highlights:

·    New institutional investors have taken a stake in the Company

·    Lanstead facilitated this transaction by the placing of 7,100,000 Ordinary Shares and now holds 10,521,555 Ordinary Shares representing 8.37% in the Company's issued share capital after Admission

·    £1 million (before expenses) raised for the Company via a placing of New Placing Shares, which are EIS and VCT qualifying

·    The Company has undertaken the Bookbuild to:

o Satisfy new institutional demand and broaden its share register

o Strengthen ImmuPharma's financial position to support its general working capital requirements

Commenting on the announcement, Tim McCarthy, Chairman, said: "We are delighted to welcome some new institutional holders onto our shareholder register alongside other new investors. We also thank Lanstead for their co-operation in facilitating this strengthening of our shareholder base and also showing their continued support as a key long term investor in ImmuPharma.  From raising equity at 26 pence in February this year, the Board is delighted that the potential value of ImmuPharma is being increasingly recognised over the longer term. We look forward to communicating further key value enhancing newsflow during the remainder of this year and into 2017, with a focus on delivering on the key milestones for our pivotal Phase III Lupuzor™ trial."

New Share Placing and Director Dealing

The New Share Placing resulted from strong institutional demand for the Company's Ordinary Shares. The placees include Mr Robert Zimmer, the Company's President and Chief Science Officer, who subscribed for 1,057,143 New Placing Shares at the Placing Price to increase his holding in the Company at 20.3% following Admission. The gross proceeds from the New Share Placing will provide the Company with additional working capital.

The 2,857,143 New Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing Ordinary Shares. Application will be made for the New Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that such Admission will become effective on or around 27 October 2016.

Vendor Placing

Following the successful completion of the Vendor Placing, the Company is pleased to welcome new institutional investors onto its share register. The Company's Sharing Agreement with Lanstead ("Sharing Agreement"), which was announced on 5 February 2016, remains in place. Following the completion of the Vendor Placing, in recognition of the Company's positive share price performance since the start of the Sharing Agreement, Lanstead has agreed to accelerate the next six monthly settlements to ImmuPharma under the Sharing Agreement which will result in ImmuPharma immediately receiving approximately £1.5 million, which will be applied to the Phase III clinical trial of Lupuzor™ as previously announced, in settlements under the Sharing Agreement. The remaining settlements under the Sharing Agreement will recommence in May 2017.

Related party transaction

Where a company enters into a related party transaction, under the AIM Rules the independent directors of the company are required, after consulting with the company's nominated adviser, to state whether, in their opinion, the transaction is fair and reasonable in so far as its shareholders are concerned.

As detailed above, Robert Zimmer has a current interest in approximately 23,494,410 Ordinary Shares (representing an interest of approximately 19.3%. of the Company's Ordinary Shares). By virtue of Mr Zimmer's current interests in the Company, he is considered to be a "related party" as defined under the AIM Rules. AIM Rule 16 requires all transactions between the Company and Mr Zimmer completed during the twelve months prior to the latest transaction to be aggregated. Accordingly, Mr Zimmer's participation in the New Share Placing constitutes a related party transaction for the purposes of Rules 13 and 16 of the AIM Rules.

The independent Directors, consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, Panmure Gordon, that the terms of Robert Zimmer's participation in the New Share Placing are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's Shareholders are concerned.

Total Voting Rights

Following Admission, the Company will have a total of 124,638,362 Ordinary Shares in issue with each share carrying the right of one vote.  The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Unless otherwise indicated, all defined terms in this announcement shall have the same meaning as described in the "Proposed Accelerated Bookbuild for Vendor Placing and Issue of Equity" announcement which was made earlier today.

-Ends-

For further information please contact: ImmuPharma plc (www.immupharma.org) + 44 (0) 20 7152 4080 Tim McCarthy, Chairman Lisa Baderoon, Head of Investor Relations Twitter: @immupharma         + 44 (0) 7721 413496 Panmure, Gordon & Co., (NOMAD & Broker) [phone] Freddy Crossley, Duncan Monteith, Corporate Finance Charles Leigh-Pemberton, Corporate Broking Northland Capital Partners Limited (Joint Broker) Patrick Claridge, David Hignell, Corporate Finance John Howes, Rob Rees, Corporate Broking [phone]

Notes to Editors

ImmuPharma PLC 

ImmuPharma is a pharmaceutical development company listed since 2006 on AIM of the London Stock Exchange (LSE:IMM), focusing on developing novel medicines with high sales potential in specialist markets with serious unmet need. ImmuPharma is led by a commercially focused Board and management team with extensive experience.

Lupuzor^™

Lupuzor^™ (also referred to as Forigerimod, or P140) is ImmuPharma's lead compound and a potential treatment for lupus (or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus), a chronic, potentially life-threatening auto-immune disease. Lupuzor^™ has a novel mechanism of action aimed at modulating the body's immune system so that it does not attack healthy cells, and avoids causing adverse side effects.  It has the potential to halt the progression of the disease in a substantial proportion of patients.

Lupuzor^™ has been granted Fast Track status by the US FDA and approval to start Phase III under Special Protocol Assessment (SPA).  This SPA was subsequently amended due to its strong safety and efficacy profile to allow for a reduced number of patients in the pivotal Phase III trial thereby reducing the projected cost and time of development considerably.

The pivotal Phase III clinical study is entitled "A 52-Week, Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel-Group, Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of a 200-mcg Dose of IPP-201101 Plus Standard of Care in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus". It is a pivotal study designed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of IPP-201101 and as a last step prior to the filing of the drug for approval with the US Food & Drug Administration ("FDA") and the European Medicines Agency ("EMA").  For more information please visit: www.ClinicalTrials.gov/lupuzor

Commercial Opportunity

There are an estimated five million people globally suffering from Lupus, with approximately 1.5 million patients in the US, Europe and Japan (Source: Lupus Foundation of America). Current 'standard of care' treatments, including steroids and immunosuppressants, can potentially have either serious side effects for patients or limited effectiveness, with over 60% of patients not adequately treated. GSK's Benlysta is the first Lupus drug approved in over 50 years and paves the path to market for Lupuzor™. Based on conservative estimates, and taking into account that Benlysta is priced currently at approximately $35,000 per patient per year, Lupuzor™ would be entering a market with the potential for multi-billion dollar sales. For more information on Lupuzor™ please visit: www.lupuzor.com

 

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