Ablynx raises €74.2m in share placement
Belgian firm will use proceeds to fund clinical development and commercialisation of its most advanced assets
Ablynx has raised €74.2m through a private placement of new shares.
The Belgian firm says the placement was oversubscribed and upsized from the €60m initially targeted.
The firm has placed 5,533,720 new shares with domestic and international institutional investors at a price of €13.40 per share. They will be admitted to trading on Euronext Brussels following their issuance, which is expected to take place on 6 June.
The firm says it will use the net proceeds of the transaction to fund clinical development and commercialisation of its most advanced assets; potentially expand indications for caplacizumab and ALX-0171; and allow increased financial flexibility in the further development of ALX-0061.
The funds will also be used to advance the pre-clinical and clinical development of other wholly- and co-owned programmes and to explore the acquisition of complementary assets.
In the past 12 months, we have made significant progress across our entire business
Ablynx also aims to continue to build momentum for its Nanobody platform in therapeutic areas which involve novel delivery routes and multi-functional approaches such as T-cell engagers.
Dr Edwin Moses, CEO of Ablynx, said the lsupport received from shareholders reflects Ablynx's potential and the opportunities the firm has going forward.
'In the past 12 months, we have made significant progress across our entire business,' he said. 'Our clinical product pipeline is rapidly expanding and our early-stage pipeline continues to grow as we initiated more than 15 new projects, both internally and with our pharmaceutical partners.'
He added: 'We are now preparing the next stage in our development as we evolve into a vertically-integrated company with our first product launch anticipated in 2018. The new funds raised allow us the flexibility to build on this positive momentum.'
