month=01
year=2010
05 January 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5
January 2010
Immupharma plc
ING take 4% stake in ImmuPharma plc
ImmuPharma plc (LSE:IMM), the
specialist discovery and development pharmaceutical company is pleased to
announce that ING, Belgium (ING) has taken a 4% stake in the company with the exercise
of warrants issued in December 2006.
These warrants were exercised on 24 December 2009.
The warrants were originally issued
in December, 2006 when ING agreed to
advance €3,000,000 to the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, ImmuPharma France
SA, by way of a Bond which was interest free and unsecured. At the same time, ImmuPharma issued warrants
whereby ING could subscribe €3,000,000 for 3,245,280 new ImmuPharma plc shares
at any time during the three years ending 31 December 2009. At the
Euro/Sterling exchange rate when these financing arrangements were agreed, the
effective subscription price of the warrants was 62 pence per share. These
arrangements were put in place to ensure that the warrants could be exercised
to fund the repayment of the Bond as required.
ING will have 3,245,280 shares
following the exercise. Application has
been made to London Stock Exchange plc for the admission of the new ordinary
shares to trading on AIM. Following the share issue and a separate, recent
exercise of options, ImmuPharma will have 81,091,463 ordinary shares of 10p
each in issue.
Richard
Warr, Chairman, said:
"ING has been a strong supporter of ImmuPharma over the last three
years. The acquisition of a 4% stake in
ImmuPharma by this eminent life science specialist investor underlines their
confidence in the future development of the Company. We are delighted that our continued progress
has attracted such prestigious institutional investors as ING."
Dr. Denis Biju-Duval of ING, said:
“We have been delighted to be a part of ImmuPharma’s progress
over the past few years and are pleased to confirm our belief in the Company’s
future through this shareholding. Immupharma's management team has demonstrated
during the last three years that it was able to deliver excellent progress in
term of clinical results and commercial perspectives on its major
compound while strengthening its links with some major
research partners as illustrated by the ongoing relationship
with CNRS. ING Belgium will
continue to support the strategy pursued in order to create both clear benefits
for many ill people and shareholder value in the medium and long term. ”
- Ends -
For further information please
contact:
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ImmuPharma PLC
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+44 20 7152 4080
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Dimitri
Dimitriou, Chief Executive Officer
Richard
Warr, Chairman
Dr Robert Zimmer,
President and Chief Scientific Officer
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Buchanan Communications
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+44 20 7466 5000
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Lisa Baderoon
Catherine Breen
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Panmure Gordon & Co (NOMAD and
Broker)
Andrew
Burnett
Rakesh
Sharma
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+44 151 243 0963
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Noble &
Company Limited (Joint Broker)
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+44 20 7763
2200
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James Bromhead
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Notes to Editors
About ImmuPharma PLC
ImmuPharma is a drug discovery and
development group with its key operations in London
and subsidiaries in Mulhouse, France and Basle,
Switzerland.
The Company aims to develop novel drugs to treat serious medical conditions for
which there is a high unmet need. It has five drugs in development to treat 1)
Lupus, 2) Cancer, 3) Severe Pain, 4) Highly resistant infections like MRSA and
5) Inflammatory and Allergic disorders.
Its lead candidate for the treatment
of Lupus, LupuzorTM, a chronic, life-threatening autoimmune disease,
was licensed to Cephalon, Inc in a transaction worth up to $500m in milestone
payments in addition to significant royalties.
$45m in cash has been received to date - $15m in Q4 2008 and $30m post
year end in Q1 2009
The Company also has a strong
proprietary and collaborative drug development pipeline.