Marketwire
- Favorable financing terms:
-- No required repayment of either capital or interest during the 5-year term
-- Confirms Thomvest's vision and support for value creation in ProMetic
- The loan enables:
-- The commissioning of ProMetic's cGMP plasma facility
-- The manufacture of orphan drugs starting in Q4 2013
LAVAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Sept. 11, 2013) - ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TSX:PLI)(OTCQX:PFSCF), ("ProMetic") announced today that it has secured financing from Thomvest Seed Capital Inc. ("Thomvest"), the Toronto-based investment vehicle of Peter J. Thomson, consisting of a long-term loan in the principal amount of $10 million. ProMetic will use part of the proceeds for the commissioning of its GMP facility, which will enable the manufacturing of plasma-derived orphan drugs, scheduled to become operational in Q4 2013.
"This is an important transaction for ProMetic", said Pierre Laurin, President and Chief Executive Officer of ProMetic. "This funding enables our plasma purification facility to become operational on schedule and with it the production of our pipeline of plasma-derived therapeutics. An operational facility will accelerate our business development initiatives and orphan drugs development program. Moreover, Thomvest is a great strategic financial partner for ProMetic and its shareholders. Based on ProMetic's fully diluted share capital today, substantially all of Thomvest's potential financial return from its warrants upon maturity of the loan would accrue to it at an exercise price of above $0.82 per share, aligning Thomvest's interests with those of our shareholders".
"Thomvest's strategy is to partner with entrepreneurs to build companies that transform their industries", said Stefan Clulow, Managing Director at Thomvest. "We see this promise in ProMetic's PPPS™ technology and the orphan drug development program it enables. We are pleased to partner with ProMetic to pursue this opportunity and to participate in the potential value creation".
Bruce Pritchard, Chief Financial Officer of ProMetic, commented, "The structure of this financial instrument is very beneficial to ProMetic. Funds are immediately available, allowing us to aggressively pursue our growth plans. Furthermore, the fact that there are no required repayments of either capital or interest until the end of the 5-year period allows us to build strong positive cash-flow from the business in the interim. In addition, the terms of the loan show that the financial markets are beginning to recognise the real potential of our business and pipeline value".
The loan is secured by ProMetic's assets, excluding its patent portfolio, bears a compounded interest rate of 9% annually; no interest or principal is required to be repaid prior to the fifth anniversary of the loan. ProMetic has the ability to repay earlier without penalties upon certain conditions being met. ProMetic has granted Thomvest a warrant to purchase 1,000,000 common shares at a $0.52 per share exercise price for a term of eight (8) years. Additionally, ProMetic has granted a second warrant to Thomvest, exercisable upon payment of $15.6 million or the cancellation of ProMetic's loan repayment obligation, for a number of ProMetic common shares equal to $15.6 million divided by the quotient of $461.6 million divided by ProMetic's outstanding shares, determined on a fully diluted basis, at the close of business on the exercise date. The second warrant has a term ranging from five (5) to eight (8) years depending on ProMetic achieving certain capitalization milestones. Parameters are in place to limit the maximum number of shares and minimum exercise price of the shares, the whole as approved by the Toronto Stock Exchange.
About Thomvest Seed Capital Inc.
Thomvest Seed Capital Inc. is an investment firm committed to the success of our entrepreneur partners. The capital we invest is our own, enabling us to be more creative, flexible and patient than most investors. It takes time to build great companies and we're committed to supporting our entrepreneurs throughout their journey. That's why more than two-thirds of the companies that we have funded in the last decade have either gone public, been acquired, or continue to grow as independent businesses. To learn more about Thomvest, please visit www.thomvest.com.
About ProMetic Life Sciences Inc.
ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (www.prometic.com) is a long-established biopharmaceutical company with globally recognized expertise in bioseparations, plasma-derived therapeutics and small-molecule drug development. ProMetic offers its state of the art technologies for large-scale purification of biologics, drug development, proteomics and the elimination of pathogens to a growing base of industry leaders and uses its own affinity technology that provides for highly efficient extraction and purification of therapeutic proteins from human plasma in order to develop best-in-class therapeutics and orphan drugs. ProMetic is also active in developing its own novel small-molecule therapeutic products targeting unmet medical needs in the field of fibrosis, cancer and autoimmune diseases/inflammation. Headquartered in Laval (Canada), ProMetic has R&D facilities in the UK, the U.S. and Canada, manufacturing facilities in the UK and business development activities in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements about ProMetic's objectives, strategies and businesses that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are "forward-looking" because they are based on our current expectations about the markets we operate in and on various estimates and assumptions. Actual events or results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements if known or unknown risks affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. Such risks and assumptions include, but are not limited to, ProMetic's ability to develop, manufacture, and successfully commercialize value-added pharmaceutical products, the availability of funds and resources to pursue R&D projects, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the ability of ProMetic to take advantage of business opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, uncertainties related to the regulatory process and general changes in economic conditions. You will find a more detailed assessment of the risks that could cause actual events or results to materially differ from our current expectations on page 26 of ProMetic's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2012, under the heading "Risk and Uncertainties related to ProMetic's business". As a result, we cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement even if new information becomes available, as a result of future events or for any other reason, unless required by applicable securities laws and regulations. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless indicated otherwise.