Provexis agrees £25m funding deal
BIOTECH business Provexis has secured a three year equity financing facility of up to £25m with Darwin Strategic and is now on the lookout for acquisitions.
The medical and functional food company has its headquarters in Windsor but operates its research and development base in Liverpool.
The deal with Darwin, part of The Evolution Group, provides the company with a facility that can be drawn down at any time over the next three years at the discretion of Provexis.
Stephen Moon, chief executive of Provexis, said: “The company has sufficient capital to finance the commercialisation of Fruitflow and to develop its existing technology pipeline of functional and medical food technologies.
“The EFF however provides the Board with the financial flexibility to accelerate the development of current technologies and/or acquire new technology opportunities. The board believes this flexibility is vital as the business enters this important phase in its development.”
Mr Moon also said that with the financing in place, the company was looking to make acquisitions.
He said: “We have stated our acquisition policy in the past and have entered into exploratory talks with a number of targets and look forward, with significant financing now in place, to keeping shareholders abreast of developments.”
In its trading update, Provexis said it had made strong progress during the year. The principal focus has been on the delivery of its main Fruitflow drink product, a tomato-based drink that thins the blood and helps circulation.
Earlier this month the company announced it had uccessfully completed the human trials comparing the effect of its Fruitflow drink with aspirin.
Provexis added that its joint venture with the University of Liverpool over its NSP#3G plantain extract for Crohn’s disease and Clostridium difficile is proceeding well, with first patient trials for Crohn’s disease now taking place.
