SkinBioTherapeutics plc, a life sciences company focused on skin health, is pleased to announce it has conditionally raised £4.0 million by way of a Placing to new and existing institutional investors
Furthermore, to enable other Shareholders who are not able to participate in the Placing an opportunity to subscribe for new Ordinary Shares, the Company is proposing to raise up to an additional c.£0.5 million by way of an Open Offer made to Qualifying Shareholders.
Key features of the Placing & Open Offer
• Conditional Placing to raise £4.0 million through the conditional issue of 25,000,000 New Ordinary Shares at 16 pence with new and existing institutional investors.
• Open Offer to raise up to an additional c.£0.5 million through an Open Offer of up to 3,123,988 New Ordinary Shares at 16 pence per share with Qualifying Shareholders.
• The issue price of 16 pence per New Ordinary Share represents an 11.1 per cent. discount to the closing middle market price of 18 pence per Existing Ordinary Share on 13 October 2020, the last Business Day before the announcement of the Fundraising.
• The Fundraising is conditional, inter alia, on the passing of the Resolutions by the Shareholders at a General Meeting, which has been convened for 11:00 a.m. on 30 October 2020.
• If the Resolutions are passed at the General Meeting, the New Ordinary Shares are expected to be admitted to trading on AIM at 8:00am on 2 November 2020.
Use of proceeds
The net proceeds of the Placing of approximately £3.7 million will be used by the Company for the following purposes:
• To explore the use of the SkinBiotix® technology in areas such as, oral and hair indications. Work has already been initiated in these areas but a greater commitment of resource is required to make material progress.
• To expand the Company’s research and development capability through the establishment of its own lab facilities and extending the resource capability at the University of Manchester, where it has a long standing research agreement.
• To explore both the launch of an own-label cosmetic product and partnering opportunities for cosmeceutical product lines.
General meeting
The Fundraising is conditional, inter alia, upon Shareholder approval at the General Meeting, which will be held electronically at 11:00am on 30 October 2020.
In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and with a view to taking appropriate measures to safeguard its shareholders’ health and make the General Meeting as safe and efficient as possible, the Company is urging the Shareholders to exercise their votes by submitting their Form of Proxy and appointing the Chairman of the General Meeting as their proxy.
Shareholders will not be allowed to attend the meeting in person, as to do so would be inconsistent with current government guidelines relating to COVID-19, in particular the advice for people to avoid public gatherings, all non-essential travel and social contact. Any Shareholder seeking to attend the General Meeting in person will be refused entry.
The Company is actively following developments and will issue further information through a Regulatory Information Service and/or on its website (www.skinbiotherapeutics.com) if it becomes necessary or appropriate to make any alternative arrangements for the General Meeting. The General Meeting will be purely functional in format to comply with the relevant legal requirements.
Should Shareholders wish to ask any questions in relation to the Fundraising or the Resolutions, which they may otherwise have asked at the General Meeting had they been in attendance, they are encouraged to contact the Company prior to the General Meeting by email to the Company Secretary at investorrelations@skinbiotherapeutics.com with the subject line “GM Question”.
The Company will shortly be posting a Notice of General Meeting and an accompanying circular (the “Circular”) to existing Shareholders following this announcement. All relevant documents will also be available to download from the Company’s website at www.skinbiotherapeutics.com/investorrelations.
Subject to, inter alia, the passing of the Resolutions at the General Meeting, up to 28,123,988 Ordinary Shares are expected to be admitted to trading on AIM on or around 8:00 am on 2 November 2020.
Stuart Ashman, CEO of SkinBioTherapeutics plc, said:
“The Company has consistently delivered on its strategy for shareholders. We have signed two commercial agreements – one with the multinational ingredients company, Croda, to develop an active skin care ingredient and the other with Winclove, to develop a food supplement to treat the symptoms of psoriasis. Both development tracks are making great progress.
“The new funds will help accelerate the development of other areas for our technology – for example in oral care and in hair, whilst we continue to progress our human study in psoriasis. We will also be able to strengthen our R&D resources, infrastructure and team, which have, until now, been kept minimal.
“We are entering an exciting chapter for the Company into one of late stage development and commercialisation, whilst continuing to broaden the microbiome base of the Company.”
For more information, please contact:
Jane Shelton
+44 (0)161 603 7752 (office)*
+44 (0)7341 121 798 (mobile)
jane.shelton@uominnovationfactory.com
*As a result of lockdown related to Covid-19, office landline numbers are not currently being monitored. Therefore, please email or phone an alternative number, where possible.
