INVESTORS SHUN VENTRACOR; CASH TO MARCH 2009
December 14th 2008 23:16
Thursday December 11, 2008
Daily news on ASX-listed biotechnology companies
* ASX, BIOTECHS DOWN: POLARTECH UP 28%, VENTRACOR DOWN 48%
* INVESTORS SHUN VENTRACOR; CASH TO MARCH 2009
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VENTRACOR
Ventracor says it failed to reach the $10 million target for its share plan and placement and is “exploring strategic options”.
Ventracor has 17,000 retail investors and fell to a low of three cents - a long way from its peak of $3.81 on August 22, 2003 representing a market capitalization of $620 million.
Ventracor’s chief executive officer Peter Crosby told Biotech Daily from Europe that the company could be sold outright, there could be strategic investments and he did not rule out the possibility of a white knight investor.
Mr Crosby said he was in discussions with a number of companies and interest in Ventracor could come from competitors, other companies in the cardio-vascular space as well as private equity firms.
“We are not being wound up, we are not insolvent and not facing insolvency,” he said.
Ventracor told the ASX that it was “open to opportunities including investment, acquisition, merger, or any other structure that maximizes shareholder value and allows the company to continue to drive the commercialization of the Ventrassist left ventricular assist device”.
The share plan and placement were intended to raise $10 million to complete the bridge-to-transplant trial.
Ventracor spokeswoman Angela Edwards told Biotech Daily the company had $11.4 million in cash at October 31, 2008 giving it sufficient funds to survive to March 2009.
Ms Edwards said no one had been dismissed from the company.
The company said that all funds subscribed in the plan would be returned, without interest.
Ventracor chairman John Ward said it was “particularly disappointing” that near completion of recruitment in the bridge-to-transplant trial it was unable to raise the funds.
“There are now almost 400 people who have been implanted with the Ventrassist LVAD and results to date have been very promising,” Mr Ward said.
He said the filing of more than 2,500 pages of the first module of the application for pre-market approval with the US Food and Drug Administration moved the company “one step closer to full commercialization” of the Ventrassist device.
Ventracor was down 3.5 cents or 47.95 percent at 3.8 cents with 9.7 million shares traded.
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