Related party loan to ProAxsis Limited
28/02/2023 07:00
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RNS Number : 2107R NetScientific PLC 28 February 2023
For release: 07.00, 28 February 2023
NetScientific plc
("NetScientific" or "NSCI" or the "Company" or the "Group")
Related party loan to ProAxsis Limited ("ProAxsis")
London, UK - 28 February 2023: NetScientific plc (AIM: NSCI), the investment
and commercialisation group with an international portfolio of innovative life
science, sustainability, and technology companies, announces that, on 27
February 2023, its wholly owned portfolio company, respiratory diagnostics
specialist, ProAxsis, entered into an unsecured £500,000 six month loan
agreement (the "Loan Agreement") with AB Group Limited ("AB Group").
The rate of interest applicable to the loan is 10 per cent. per annum, payable
on repayment of the loan. In addition, ProAxsis has granted to AB Group
warrants over shares in ProAxsis equal to the value of £150,000 at an
exercise price determined by reference to a future third party fundraising of
at least £500,000, such price to be discounted by 30 per cent. The warrants
have an exercise period commencing on the date of any such third party
fundraising and ending on the five year anniversary of the date of the Loan
Agreement.
As AB Group, together with other entities associated with Melvin Lawson, is
interested in 16.88 per cent. of the issued share capital of NetScientific,
its entry into the Loan Agreement represents a related party transaction under
Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies.
The Directors of the Company, each of whom is independent of AB Group,
consider, having consulted the Company's Nominated Adviser, that the terms of
the Loan Agreement are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's
shareholders are concerned. In reaching this conclusion, the Directors have
taken into account the limited availability of loan finance to ProAxsis from
alternative sources.
Commenting on the Loan Agreement, Dr Ilian Iliev, Chief Executive Officer of
NetScientific said:
"A key element of our capital light investment approach is to help our
portfolio companies access funding from third parties. We are therefore
delighted to have helped secure this Loan Agreement for ProAxsis, which will
help it accelerate its commercial and investment strategy in the respiratory
diagnostics space.
"ProAxsis has a growing pipeline of customers for its product and clinical
services offering from the UK and internationally, including the US. There is
a further internal development on additional novel respiratory diagnostic
products. We look forward to further updates from ProAxsis in 2023 as it
continues to make important advances to help individuals with airway bacterial
infections, and those at the highest risk of suffering pulmonary
exacerbations."
-Ends-
The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on
behalf of the Company is Ilian Iliev, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF
THE UK VERSION OF REGULATION (EU) NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF UK LAW BY
VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED. UPON THE
PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS
INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
For more information, please contact:
NetScientific
Ilian Iliev,
CEO
Via Belvedere Communications
WH Ireland (NOMAD, Financial Adviser and Broker)
Chris Fielding / Darshan Patel / Enzo
Aliaj
+44 (0) 20 7220
1666
Belvedere Communications
John West / Llew
Angus
+44 (0) 203 008 6867
Email: nsci@belvederepr.com (mailto:nsci@belvederepr.com)
About NetScientific
NetScientific plc (AIM: NSCI) is an investment and commercialisation group
with an international portfolio of innovative life science, sustainability and
technology companies.
NetScientific identifies, invests in, and builds high growth companies in the
UK and internationally. The company adds value through the proactive
management of its portfolio, progressing to key value inflection points, and
delivering investment returns through partial or full liquidity events.
NetScientific differentiates itself by employing a capital-light investment
approach, making judicial use of its balance sheet and syndicating investments
through its wholly owned VC subsidiary, EMV Capital. The group secures a
mixture of direct equity stakes and carried interest stakes in its portfolio
of companies, creating a lean structure that can support a large portfolio.
NetScientific is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and is admitted to
trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange.
www.netscientific.net (http://www.netscientific.net/)
About ProAxsis
ProAxsis Limited is a global diagnostics company, based in Northern Ireland,
with a specific focus on active protease biomarkers. The company currently
commercialises activity-based immunoassays targeting Neutrophil Elastase (NE)
and Proteinase 3, as biomarkers of lung infection and inflammation in chronic
respiratory diseases such as COPD, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis.
This technology has been translated into a point-of-care test (NEATstik®), to
enable ongoing monitoring of active NE levels. Recently published data has
shown that measuring active NE levels using NEATstik® enables identification
of patients with airway bacterial infection and those patients at highest risk
of suffering pulmonary exacerbations over the subsequent 12 months.
The company has further expanded its respiratory product portfolio via a
global in-licensing agreement with AstraZeneca.
In addition to proteases, the company also has significant expertise in the
measurement of other inflammatory biomarkers, including IL-6, IL-8 and
TNF-alpha.
Aside from the provision of assays, ProAxsis provides clinical services at its
purpose-built laboratory facility in Belfast and is currently supporting a
number of pharmaceutical company-sponsored Phase I, II and III clinical
trials.
ProAxsis is a wholly owned subsidiary of NetScientific plc.
www.proaxsis.com (http://www.proaxsis.com)
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