Acquisition Completion, Admission & Voting Rights

RNS Number : 6689Z

Roquefort Therapeutics PLC

16 September 2022

 

16 September 2022

Roquefort Therapeutics plc

("Roquefort Therapeutics" or the "Company")

Acquisition Completion,

Admission & Voting Rights

Roquefort Therapeutics (LSE:ROQ,OTCQB:ROQAF), the Main Market listed biotech company focused on developing first in class drugs in the high value and high growth oncology segment , is pleased to announce the completion of its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Oncogeni Limited ("Oncogeni") for an aggregate consideration of £5,500,000 satisfied by the issue of 50,000,000 new ordinary shares in the Company ("Consideration Shares") to the shareholders of Oncogeni (the "Acquisition").

Roquefort Therapeutics is also pleased to announce the admission of the 57,249,998 new Ordinary Shares, comprising 50,000,000 Consideration Shares and 7,249,998 Placing Shares of £0.01 each, to the Official List of the UKLA by way of a standard listing under Chapter 14 of the UKLA's Listing Rules and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities will take place at 8:00a.m. today ("Admission").

The Company's Admission follows a successful placing, raising gross proceeds of £1,015,000 via the issue of 7 ,249,998 Ordinary Shares at a price of 14 pence per share (the "Placing").  Stephen West subscribed for 19,485 ordinary shares in the Placing. The Net Placing Proceeds are intended to be used to fund the Oncogeni pre-clinical drug development programs and working capital.

Completion of the Acquisition became effective on Admission.

The Company confirms that with effect from Admission, the Company will have 129,149,998 ordinary shares of £0.01 each in issue, with each share carrying the right to one vote. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury. The figure of 129,149,998 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 of a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Capitalised terms used in this announcement (unless otherwise defined) carry the same meanings as those ascribed to them in the Company's Prospectus dated 13 September 2022, unless the context requires otherwise.

The Prospectus and further information on the Company can be found on Roquefort Therapeutic's website at: https://www.roquefortplc.com

Stephen West, Executive Chairman, commented:

"We are extremely pleased to have completed the fundraise and the acquisition of Oncogeni, which pivots Roquefort Therapeutics into a material oncology biotech company with a pre-clinical anti-cancer portfolio that is patent protected and fully funded to clinical trial submission. In addition to the exciting portfolio, Roquefort Therapeutics now has a state-of-the-art laboratory and manufacturing facility which provides the Group with major cost saving and time advantages as we progress through the pre-clinical stage of development. The acquisition also strengthens our Board and senior management with complementary skills and expertise, and I am very excited with the team we have in place to drive our programs forward and to realise value. We are optimistic of what the future holds for Roquefort Therapeutics and I look forward to updating the market on the Company's progress. Finally I would like to thank shareholders for their continued support with this transformational transaction."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

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Enquiries:

Roquefort Therapeutics plc
Stephen West (Chairman)	[phone]
Hybridan LLP (Joint Broker) Claire Louise Noyce Optiva Securities Limited (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Christian Dennis Buchanan (Public Relations) Ben Romney / Jamie Hooper / George Beale	[phone] [phone]

LEI: ‎254900P4SISIWOR9RH34

About Roquefort Therapeutics

Roquefort Therapeutics (LSE:ROQ, OTCQB:ROQAF) is a Main Market listed biotech company developing first in class drugs in the high value and high growth oncology segment prior to partnering or selling to big pharma.

Since listing in March 2021, Roquefort Therapeutics has successfully acquired Lyramid Pty Limited, a leader in the development of medicines for a new therapeutic target, Midkine (a human growth factor associated with cancer progression), and most recently acquired Oncogeni Ltd, founded by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Martin Evans, which has developed two families of innovative cell and RNA oncology medicines.

Roquefort Therapeutics' portfolio consists of four fully funded, novel patent-protected pre-clinical anti-cancer medicines.  The highly complementary profile of four best-in-class medicines consists of:

· Midkine antibodies with significant in vivo efficacy and toxicology studies;

· Midkine RNA therapeutics with novel anti-cancer gene editing action;

· MK cell therapy with direct and NK-mediated anti-cancer action; and

· siRNA targeting novel STAT-6 target in solid tumours showing significant in vivo efficacy.

For further information on Roquefort Therapeutics, please visit www.roquefortplc.com and @RoquefortTherap on Twitter.

 

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