TIDMTEK
RNS Number : 9743D
Tekcapital plc
03 May 2017
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES
OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS (EU) NO. 596/2014
("MAR"). IN ADDITION, MARKET SOUNDINGS WERE TAKEN IN RESPECT OF THE
MATTERS CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, WITH THE RESULT THAT
CERTAIN PERSONS BECAME AWARE OF SUCH INSIDE INFORMATION. UPON THE
PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW
CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND SUCH PERSONS SHALL
THEREFORE CEASE TO BE IN POSSESSION OF INSIDE INFORMATION AS A
RESULT OF SUCH MARKET SOUNDINGS.
Tekcapital plc
("Tekcapital" or the "Company")
Private Placement for Belluscura Ltd to raise US$1.7m
Tekcapital plc (AIM: TEK), an international provider of
technology and intellectual property services, announces that
Belluscura Ltd ("Belluscura") has concluded a private placement to
raise approximately US$1.7m (the "Private Placement") through
Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers.
This Private Placement was priced at 51 pence per share, giving
Belluscura a post-money valuation of approximately US$7.6m,
representing an increase of approximately US$2m since its
fundraising in October 2016. Belluscura may extend the Private
Placement for an additional 90 days to enable additional investors
to participate.
Following the recent acquisition of Nanotether Discovery Science
Ltd and the issue of new shares from the Private Placement,
Belluscura will have gross cash of approximately $2m from the
transactions. The proceeds of the Private Placement will be used
for further investment in the Company's existing products and
products in development, sales and marketing and for general
working capital purposes.
Investors in the Private Placement include Nigel Wray and his
family and as they currently hold more than 10 per cent. of both
Tekcapital's and Belluscura's ordinary share capital, their
participation of approximately US$500,000 in the Private Placement
is deemed to be a related party transaction pursuant to rule 13 of
the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, the directors of
Tekcapital consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated
adviser, Allenby Capital Limited, that the terms of the
subscription with Nigel Wray and his family are fair and reasonable
insofar as Tekcapital's shareholders are concerned.
As a result of the Private Placing, Tekcapital's ownership
interest in Belluscura has been reduced from approximately 61% to
approximately 48% of its share capital. The Directors of Tekcapital
believe that this will result in Belluscura no longer being
consolidated in Tekcapital's consolidated group accounts. As
announced on 17 June 2016, Tekcapital is not involved in the
day-to-day management of Belluscura and Belluscura has an
experienced executive management team with significant expertise in
the medical devices industry that covers a broad spectrum of
disciplines in business, law, medicine and technology.
The Directors of Tekcapital believe that the funds from the
Private Placing will allow Belluscura to significantly progress its
commercial strategy. In addition, Belluscura is exploring an IPO in
2017.
Commenting on the Private Placement, Dr. Clifford M. Gross,
Executive Chairman of Tekcapital, said: "We are very pleased to
announce this Private Placement. Belluscura's mission is to provide
premium, proprietary medical devices at affordable prices."
Background to Belluscura
Belluscura (www.belluscura.com) was established in the UK in
December 2015 to provide premium proprietary medical devices at
affordable prices, to address part of the global unmet need for
inexpensive, superior medical devices. Belluscura seeks to achieve
this goal by acquiring, then manufacturing and selling, proprietary
medical devices deemed to be non-core or undervalued by leading
medical device companies on an on-going basis.
Belluscura's core portfolio of medical devices is currently
based on exclusive licenses to manufacture and sell four medical
products. These devices are:
-- Slyde(TM) , a lightweight stretcher designed for use in
emergency evacuations of multi-storey structures;
-- Passport(R), a surgical trocar designed as a camera port for
use in laparoscopy (keyhole surgery);
-- SNAP II, a level of consciousness monitor for use during
surgical procedures requiring general anesthesia; and
-- Wire Caddy(TM) , an innovative wire management system that
provides lubrication and organization during multi-wire,
multi-exchange operating room cases.
Slyde(TM) is already manufactured and sold by Belluscura in the
US. Shipping to the European Union commenced in March 2017.
Belluscura will seek to expand the markets and routes to market for
Slyde(TM) over the course of 2017.
Passport(R) is currently only sold to US customers, but
Belluscura intends to expand its markets over 2017 to the European
Union and other global territories.
Belluscura's management believes that SNAP II will require
certain design updates in order to fulfill the device's fuller
potential within the anesthesia market, and that such updates may
enable level of consciousness monitoring to be applied to less
mature markets. Additionally, Belluscura's management believes that
the core technology underlying SNAP II has significant potential
for retail applications in markets outside anaesthesia,
particularly in the field of sleep measurement and evaluating and
identifying sleep disorders. Part of the proceeds of the Private
Placement will be applied towards the development of SNAP II.
Wire Caddy(TM) was launched in the US in February 2017 and
Belluscura's management are targeting its launch in the European
Union in 2017.
The exclusive licences for the distribution and sale of
Slyde(TM) , Passport(R), SNAP II and Wire Caddy(TM) were acquired
by Belluscura from Stryker Corporation. These four medical devices
are protected by a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio of
19 issued and pending patents and industrial designs. They have
received US 510(k) regulatory clearance where necessary and have
already recorded commercial sales revenue for Stryker. Further
details of these four medical devices can be found in Tekcapital's
announcements of 17 June 2016 and 15 September 2016.
Belluscura is also party to a co-exclusive license and
development agreement with Separation Design Group ("SDG") to
develop a next generation portable oxygen concentrator ("POC"). As
part of the agreement, Belluscura has licensed a portfolio of six
intellectual properties from SDG and has agreed to provide monthly
funding towards the development of a prototype POC device and part
of the proceeds of the Private Placement will be applied towards
its development. Further details regarding the POC development
arrangements can be found in Tekcapital's announcement of 28
February 2017.
Belluscura's unaudited accounts as at 30 November 2016 (being
the end of its most recent financial reporting period) record net
assets of approximately US$1,200,000. Belluscura's unaudited
accounts for the period from incorporation, on 10 December 2015, to
30 November 2016 record an operating loss of approximately
US$977,000. Belluscura commenced commercial sales operations in
June 2016.
For further information, please contact:
Tekcapital Plc
Clifford M. Gross, Ph.D. info@tekcapital.com
Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated
Adviser & Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 3328 5656
Jeremy Porter / Alex Brearley
Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers
(Joint Broker) +44 (0) 1293 517744
David Poutney / James Serjeant
Walbrook PR Ltd +44 (0) 20 7933 8780
Paul Cornelius / Helen Cresswell tekcapital@walbrookpr.com
/ Sam Allen
Tekcapital plc - The World's Largest University Network for Open
Innovation
Tekcapital creates value from new, university-developed
intellectual properties. With its proprietary discovery search
engine, linked to 4,500+ universities in 160 countries, coupled
with expert scientific review, Tekcapital provides a turn-key
service to make it easy for clients to find and acquire the IP,
analytics and technology transfer professionals they need to create
a competitive advantage. Tekcapital plc is quoted on the AIM market
of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: symbol TEK) and is headquartered
in Oxford, in the UK. For more information, please visit
www.tekcapital.com
LEI: 213800GOJTOV19FIFZ85
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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