Cancer Treatment Company to raise £40m on AIM

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<h1>Cancer Treatment Company to raise £40m on AIM</h1><strong> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_John Holland.aspx'>John Holland</a></strong><br /><p>E-Therapeutics, a Newcastle based drug discovery company that focuses on cancer treatments and disorders of the nervous system, is planning to raise £40m through an issue of ordinary shares to existing and new institutional investors on AIM( The Alternative Investment Market). The fundraising is conditional on approval at the company’s general meeting. The funds raised through the new issue will include substantial further investment by Invesco Asset Management, increasing its shareholding from 45.9 per cent to 49.9 per cent. The company has its HQ in Newcastle and its Pharmacology Centre near Oxford. The Oxford Centre was opened in a blaze of publicity last year by Prime Minister David Cameron, in whose constituency it is located. The £40m issue is intended to support E-Therapeutics’ discovery and development activities over the next 4 years, by which time the company could conclude an out-licensing deal for ETS2101, its lead cancer drug. The company plans to spend £25m of the money to complete phase 1 trials, and then move straight into phase 2 clinical trials. E-Therapeutics was founded in 2001 by Malcolm Young, its chief executive, a former director of the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University. Subsequently the company was spun out from the university, which remains a shareholder. E-Therapeutics floated on the AIM Stock Market in November 2007, and since then it has risen close to £30m through placings. Commenting on the announcement, John Holland Senior Partner of flotation consultants, Holland Bendelow said, ‘’ this is another good example of companies using AIM in a positive way to fund strategic growth. This major funding is expected to provide E-Therapeutics with enough financial resources to fully fund its development program until 2017’’. ‘’ This fundraising will be of particular interest to other pre-revenue companies, as it may indicate the extent to which institutional investors are willing to fully support such businesses’’ The group’s share price has recently shown gains of around 5% following the fundraising announcement. Existing major shareholders in the company are Invesco - 63,461,539 (45.9%), Malcolm Young - 20,640,482 (14.9%), Henderson Global Investors - 16,666,408 (12.1%), Octopus Group - 8,768,508 (6.3%,) and Newcastle University Holdings Limited - 6,744,000 (4.9%. There are currently around 1100 companies listed on the AIM Stock Market. Of these nearly 900 are based in the UK. During 2012, over £3bn was raised by companies on AIM, making it the largest and most successful growth stock market in Europe. </p><strong>About the Author:</strong><br />John Holland was the former head of the UK regional operation at the London Stock Exchange, with responsibility for both AIM and The Main Market. He has been advising companies since 1995 about stock market flotation and is a regular author of company finance and stock market publications and articles in business and financial press as well as various institutions on the internet. More info visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.hbcg.co.uk/aim-stock-market/">http://www.hbcg.co.uk/aim-stock-market/</a><p> Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Cancer-Treatment-Company-to-raise-£40m-on-AIM_258052.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Cancer Treatment Company to raise £40m on AIM_258052.aspx</a></p>

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Cancer Treatment Company to raise £40m on AIM_258052.aspx

Keywords : Floating a company, AIM Stock Market,

Category : Finance : Finance