REG - Avacta Group PLC - Issue of Equity and Total Voting Rights

AvactaAnnouncement

23/04/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 8271F  Avacta Group PLC  23 April 2025

Avacta Group plc

 

("Avacta" or the "Group" or the "Company")

 

Issue of Equity and Total Voting Rights

 

LONDON and PHILADELPHIA - 23 April 2025 - Avacta Therapeutics (AIM:AVCT), a
life sciences company developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs, today
announces it has issued and allotted a total of 9,384,366 new ordinary shares
of 10 pence each in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares").

 

The New Ordinary Shares are being issued in settlement of the quarterly
principal of £2.55 million and interest repayment of c. £0.456 million in
respect of the Company's unsecured convertible bond.

 

After settlement of the quarterly repayment, the principal remaining under the
convertible bond will be reduced by £2.55 million to £25.5 million.

 

As communicated previously, the Company originally issued the unsecured
convertible bond in October 2022 to fund the acquisition of a diagnostic
business, provide additional funding for a diagnostics roll-up strategy and
provide working capital for the Group.

 

Avacta is on the pathway to becoming a pure play biotechnology company and
focuses all its resources on its drug development activities. Maintaining an
appropriate level of cash is fundamental for biotechnology companies at
Avacta's stage of development and is a key factor in the Board's decision as
to whether to make quarterly repayments in cash or through the issue of new
Ordinary Shares.

 

The Board carefully considers each payment as it arises and took the following
additional factors into account when determining to settle this quarterly
payment via the issue of New Ordinary Shares: the Company's cash runway in the
context of the funding requirements to advance the Company's R&D pipeline
and value creation opportunities and the recent increased volatility in equity
markets including biotechnology stocks.

 

The Board is focused on the effective delivery of the Company's strategic
goals and whilst issuance of shares for the bond settlement is regrettable,
the level of dilution from each conversion event depends on the prevailing
share price, which has been adversely impacted by market volatility.

 

The Board continues to actively explore all available options to finance its
clinical therapeutics programs as well as reviewing the terms of the Company's
unsecured convertible bond.  These include partnering, attracting global
specialist biotechnology investors and potentially a NASDAQ dual listing.

 .

Application has been made to AIM for the admission to trading of the 9,384,366
New Ordinary Shares resulting from the conversion, which is expected to occur
at or around 8.00 am on 24 April 2025 ("Admission"). The New Ordinary Shares
will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company.

 

Following Admission, the Company's enlarged issued share capital will be
386,868,205. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the
denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are
required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the
share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

 

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

 

 Avacta Group plc                                           www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com/)

 Michael Vinegrad, Group Communications

 Director

 Peel Hunt (Nomad and Joint Broker)

 James Steel / Chris Golden                                 www.peelhunt.com (http://www.peelhunt.com/)

 Panmure Liberum (Joint Broker)

 Emma Earl / Will Goode / Mark Rogers                       www.panmureliberum.com

 ICR Healthcare                                             avacta@icrhealthcare.com (mailto:avacta@icrhealthcare.com)

 Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson / Stephanie Cuthbert

 Investor Contact

 Renee Leck                                                 renee@thrustsc.com (mailto:renee@thrustsc.com)

 THRUST Strategic Communications

 Media Contact

 Carly Scaduto                                              Carly@carlyscadutoconsulting.com

                                                          (https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=YG-jwixFWaHByFwlhEr4NbVmhGc9YbrV0ozbiHY-33jDG-KDtaZDvqBLS4-5RgIi5zejtwvrLPO1U6xSYlV9BnK-dIegbuZft6wwj-ugstEWYrPDSrd9NwgKYBdm1l9Ty6VSa1gsRJqxeLaMfUN-easXzPVocBafm0xbzTKFahId-T7w4WgPYGYfKdFh6MGXNNniX0b0LrpQwjqHYj_mTmjerN3nRW6pwlbWejQ6wZCns0oke-U-WA7CB-Z2CD1ObedcWrqwKYgQwTY1NxAOLXtmHTL3VJ7HZ4Z3K9ZhB_2_vgbo4aKKTppE6l1bjU2w)
 Carly Scaduto Consulting

 

 

About Avacta - www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com/)

Avacta Therapeutics is a clinical-stage life sciences company expanding the
reach of highly potent cancer therapies with the pre|CISION(®) platform.
pre|CISION(®) is a proprietary warhead delivery system based on a
tumor-specific protease (fibroblast activation protein or FAP) that is
designed to concentrate highly potent warheads in the tumor microenvironment
while sparing normal tissues. Our innovative pipeline consists of
pre|CISION(®) peptide drug conjugates (PDC) or Affimer(®) drug conjugates
(AffDC) that leverage the tumor-specific release mechanism, providing unique
benefits over traditional antibody drug conjugates.

 

 

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