City briefs: 4D Pharma and Surgical Innovations
Pharmacuetical firm 4D pharma has today confirmed its merger with Longevity Acquisition Corporation – details of which were announced on 22 October 2020 – has now become effective.
Leeds-headquartered 4D pharma’s existing board of directors and management team will continue to lead the combined company.
And 4D says it will continue its operations to develop Live Biotherapeutic products. The cash of $14.8m/£10.7m held by Longevity is now available to 4D.
4D American Depositary Shares are expected to begin trading today on NASDAQ. The company’s ordinary shares will continue to be admitted to trading on AIM.
In addition, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp has now subscribed for 654,023 ordinary shares at the issue price of $1.53/£1.10 in the firm’s private placement – which was previously reported on 17 March 2021 – raising an additional $1m/£0.72m.
The gross proceeds of 4D’s private placement now totals approximately $25.03m/£18.01m. 16,367,332 new ordinary shares have been subscribed pursuant to the private placement.
In connection with the merger, 4D has issued new warrants convertible into ordinary shares.
These comprise 4,320,000 outstanding warrants that were previously issued by Longevity to holders of Longevity Shares at the time of the Longevity IPO and which will be converted into warrants to purchase up to 16,268,040 Ordinary Shares, payable in American Depositary Shares.
They also include warrants to be issued to the Backstop Investors to acquire up to 7,530,000 ordinary shares following completion in connection with the Backstop Arrangements, and an option to acquire up to 2,892,096 ordinary shares to Cantor Fitzgerald, in its capacity as underwriter to Longevity at the time of the Longevity IPO.
If all of the new warrants are exercised for cash, the company will receive approximately $29m/£21m of capital.
Duncan Peyton, chief executive officer of 4D pharma, said: “The closing of 4D pharma’s merger with Longevity represents a transformational milestone for the company.
“Becoming a dual-listed company both in the UK and the US broadens our global reach.
“In conjunction with the NASDAQ listing, the closing of the merger and concurrent fundraise give 4D pharma an additional $40m of capital and puts the company in a very strong financial position to execute across our robust pipeline.
“We believe our single strain Live Biotherapeutic approach to the microbiome holds great promise to deliver novel, efficacious and safe therapeutics to patients suffering from a variety of conditions with few alternative therapeutic options.
“We continue to push the frontier for Live Biotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer, as well as additional therapeutic areas such as neurological conditions.”
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Medical technology company Surgical Innovations Group says its wholly owned subsidiary, Elemental Healthcare Ltd, has signed an additional three-year exclusive GB distribution agreement with Microline Surgical Inc.
The deal is for the distribution in Great Britain of Microline instruments.
Based near Boston, USA, Microline designs, makes and distributes high quality instruments aimed at the Minimal Invasive Surgery market.
Its portfolio of products is complementary to those offered by Leeds-based Surgical Innovations.
Elemental has a long established relationship with Microline, and recently announced a new five-year USA distribution agreement with Microline for the company’s range of YelloPort+PlusTM and YelloPort EliteTM Access Devices.
Adam Power, Surgical Innovations Group development director, said: “We are very pleased to announce an exclusive agreement for a further three years to sell products manufactured by Microline Surgical.
“Microline is Elemental Healthcare’s longest standing distribution partner as well as our largest, and shares the philosophy of sustainability in its products which will play such an important part in hospital decision-making in the years to come.”
Isabelle Huysmans, general manager at Microline BV, added: “We are extremely happy to confirm the extension of the exclusive agreement for the next three years with our trusted partner, Elemental Healthcare, who embrace and embody our vision and values completely.
“Together we will continue to work passionately on sustainability to provide solutions to improve the quality of life for everyone.”
