XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. Raises $28 Million in Private Equity Transaction With Institutional Investors
20 March 2006 - 7:19PM
PR Newswire (US)
NEW YORK, March 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XTL Biopharmaceuticals
Ltd. (NASDAQ:XTLB)(LSE:XTL)(TASE:XTL), a biotechnology company
focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of
therapeutics for the treatment of infectious diseases, with a focus
on hepatitis C, announced today that it has entered into definitive
agreements with institutional investors relating to a private
placement of $28 million in gross proceeds through the issuance of
ordinary shares, represented by American Depositary Receipts
(ADRs), and warrants. JPMorgan Securities Inc. acted as the
lead-placement agent. Brean Murray, Carret & Co., LLC,
Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., and Punk, Ziegel & Company, L.P.
served as co-placement agents in the transaction. Ron Bentsur,
Chief Executive Officer of XTL, commented, "We are very pleased to
have consummated this financing with some of the highest-quality
investors in the biotechnology sector in the U.S. We believe that
this serves as strong validation of the promise of our hepatitis C
clinical-stage drug pipeline and the company. Following this
offering, we will have sufficient cash to take us into 2008. The
funds raised will not only provide us with capital to support our
current and planned clinical programs for our hepatitis C drug
candidates, but will also provide us with added flexibility in our
in-licensing and product acquisition program, as we aim to build
out our pipeline with additional clinical-stage drug candidates."
In the transaction, XTL sold a total of approximately 4.67 million
ADRs, which represents approximately 46.67 million ordinary shares,
at a purchase price of $6.00 per ADR. In addition, XTL will issue a
five-year warrant to purchase one-half an ordinary share for each
ordinary share purchased with an exercise price equal to $0.875 per
share (equivalent to $8.75 per ADR), for an aggregate of
approximately 23.33 million warrant shares. XTL has agreed to
register the ordinary shares, including those issuable upon
exercise of the warrants, under the Securities Act of 1933, list
the ADRs for trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market and to apply to the
UK Listing Authority for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to
trading on the London Stock Exchange. ABOUT XTL BIOPHARMACEUTICALS,
LTD. XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. ("XTL") is engaged in the
acquisition, development and commercialization of therapeutics for
the treatment of infectious diseases, with a focus on hepatitis C.
XTL is developing XTL-2125 - a small molecule, non-nucleoside
inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus polymerase. XTL-2125 is expected
to enter Phase 1 clinical trial in chronic hepatitis C patients in
1H 2006. XTL is also developing XTL-6865 - a combination of two
monoclonal antibodies against the hepatitis C virus - presently in
Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with chronic hepatitis C. XTL's
hepatitis C pipeline also includes several families of pre-clinical
hepatitis C small molecule inhibitors. In addition, XTL has
out-licensed to Cubist Pharmaceuticals an antibody therapeutic
against hepatitis B, HepeX-B, which has recently completed a Phase
2b clinical study in hepatitis B liver transplant patients. XTL is
publicly traded on the NASDAQ, London, and Tel-Aviv Stock Exchanges
(NASDAQ:XTLB)(LSE:XTL)(TASE:XTL). The offering was made only to
accredited investors, as such term is defined in accordance with
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The ordinary shares and the
warrants have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933,
or any state securities laws. Therefore, they may not be offered or
sold in the United States absent registration under or exemption
from the Securities Act of 1933 and any applicable state securities
laws. This announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a
solicitation of an offer to buy our ordinary shares or warrants to
purchase ordinary shares. Contact: Ron Bentsur, Chief Executive
Officer, Tel: +1-212-531-5971 Cautionary Statement Some of the
statements included in this press release, particularly those
anticipating future financial performance, clinical and business
prospects for our clinical compounds for hepatitis C, XTL-2125 and
XTL-6865, growth and operating strategies and similar matters, may
be forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the protection of the
safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Among the factors that
could cause our actual results to differ materially are the
following: our ability to successfully complete cost-effective
clinical trials for the drug candidates in our pipeline which would
affect our ability to continue to fund our operations with our
available cash reserves, our ability to meet anticipated
development timelines for the drug candidates in our pipeline due
to recruitment, clinical trial results, manufacturing capabilities
or other factors; and other risk factors identified from time to
time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission and the London Stock Exchange. Any forward-looking
statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the
date of this press release. We do not intend to update any of these
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that
occur after the date hereof. This press release and prior releases
are available at http://www.xtlbio.com/. The information in our
website is not incorporated by reference into this press release
and is included as an inactive textual reference only. DATASOURCE:
XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. CONTACT: Contact: Ron Bentsur, Chief
Executive Officer, Tel: +1-212-531-5971
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