Secondary Placing Of Ordinary Shares in Ergomed

RNS Number : 5563T

Ergomed plc

20 July 2015

 

Secondary Placing Of Ordinary Shares in Ergomed Plc

Guildford, UK - 20 July 2015: Ergomed Plc ("Ergomed" or the "Company", AIM: ERGO), a profitable UK-based company, dedicated to the provision of specialised services to the pharmaceutical industry and the development of new drugs, announces that it has been notified today by Dr Miroslav Reljanovic, CEO and founder of Ergomed, that he has today sold a total of 3,958,020 ordinary shares in the Company ("the Placing Shares") on the London Stock Exchange at a price of 170p per share, being a discount of 6.8 per cent to the 10 day weighted average price.

The Placing Shares represent in aggregate approximately 13.8 per cent of the total issued share capital of Ergomed. The Placing Shares were sold to new and existing institutional investors via an accelerated bookbuild placing managed by Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited as bookrunner and broker and MC Services AG as European Financial Consultant.

In addition, Dr Reljanovic has agreed to grant an option over 176,470 ordinary shares from his own holding to each of Neil Clark, Chief Financial Officer and Andrew Mackie, Chief Business Officer (the "Executive Optionholders"). Half of these shares under this option will be exercisable immediately and half will be subject to a year vesting period. The exercise price will be £0.01. Upon exercise of these options, Dr Reljanovic will transfer the relevant number of shares from his own holding to the relevant Executive Optionholder.

Following this disposal, Dr Reljanovic remains interested in 17,232,237 ordinary shares in Ergomed, representing approximately 59.9 per cent of Ergomed's issued share capital. Notwithstanding the grant of options, the 352,940 ordinary shares over which he has granted options to Neil Clark and Andrew Mackie remain in Dr Reljanovic's holding until exercise.  In addition, Dr Reljanovic has agreed not to sell any further shares for a 12 month period (subject to the usual exceptions) without the prior written consent of Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (acting in its absolute discretion). The terms of this lock up are substantively the same terms as the one he entered into at the IPO of the Company.

Following the grant of the option by Dr Reljanovic, Neil Clark is interested in 91,912 ordinary shares in Ergomed, representing 0.3% of Ergomed's issued share capital. Andrew Mackie holds no ordinary shares in Ergomed.

Rolf Stahel, Chairman of Ergomed, commented: "Ergomed is pleased to broaden the share register with support from existing shareholders as well as new, high quality investors including a number of continental European investors. It has always been Ergomed's intention to reduce Dr Reljanovic's founder holding and thereby increase liquidity and broaden the institutional shareholder base. Dr Reljanovic remains committed to leading delivery of the Company's strategy and we are excited about the future potential in the business."

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Hume Brophy

Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur and Hollie Vile

Tel: + 44 203 440 5654

[e-mail]

Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited

NOMAD/Broker to the Company

Jonathan Senior, Giles Balleny

Tel: + 44 207 710 7600

About Ergomed

Ergomed Plc is a profitable UK-based company, providing drug development services to the pharmaceutical industry and has a growing portfolio of co-development partnerships. It operates in over 40 countries.

Ergomed provides clinical development, trial management and pharmacovigilance services to over 60 clients ranging from top 10 pharmaceutical companies to small and mid-sized drug development companies. Ergomed successfully manages clinical development from Phase I through to late phase programmes.

Ergomed has a wide therapeutic focus, with a particular expertise in oncology, neurology and immunology and the development of orphan drugs. Ergomed believes its approach to clinical trials is differentiated from that of other providers by its innovative Study Site Management model and the use of Study Physician Teams, resulting in a close relationship between Ergomed and the physicians involved in clinical trials.

As well as providing high quality clinical development services, Ergomed is building a portfolio of co-development partnerships with pharma and biotech companies which share the risks and rewards of drug development. Ergomed leverages its expertise and services in return for carried interest in the drugs under development. For further information, visit: http://ergomedplc.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained within the announcement are forward looking statements and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the potential returns of Ergomed plc ("Ergomed") and industry and markets in which Ergomed operates, the Directors' beliefs and assumptions made by the Directors. Words such as "expects", "anticipates", "should", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "projects", "pipeline" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward looking statements and expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or the ability to identify and consummate investments and involve certain risks, uncertainties, outcomes of negotiations and due diligence and assumptions that are difficult to predict, qualify or quantify. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward looking statements or expectations. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are: the general economic climate, competition, interest rate levels, loss of key personnel, the result of legal and commercial due diligence, the availability of financing on acceptable terms and changes in the legal or regulatory environment.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. Ergomed expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Ergomed's expectations with regard thereto, any new information or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based, unless required to do so by law or any appropriate regulatory authority.

 

END

 

 

MSCPGUMAMUPAGCU