LEIDEN, Netherlands, Oct. 9, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Biotech company Pharming Group NV ("Pharming" or "the Company") (NYSE Euronext: PHARM) today announced that it has entered into a private equity placement of €12.0 million (€11.5 million net proceeds after subtraction of transaction fees) with existing and new institutional investors. Participating institutional investors include current shareholders Deerfield Management Company, Kingdon Capital Management and Broadfin Capital. The placement is priced at €0.117 per share, which represents a 10% discount to last night's closing price of €0.13 per share. A total of 102,564,103 shares will be issued to the investors. In addition the investors will receive 25,641,026 Warrants with a strike price of €0.135. The exercise period of the warrants is five years. Sijmen de Vries, Pharming CEO, said: "I am pleased that, ahead of the April FDA decision on the Ruconest® BLA, our existing institutional shareholders have demonstrated their belief in the potential of the Company by increasing their holding. I am also pleased to note that new institutional shareholders have decided to also take a position in our Company. This private placement represents an important strengthening of our balance sheet, not only does it allow us to continue to fund the manufacturing of new Ruconest inventory in preparation for a US launch and roll-out, it also allows us to fund the planned US clinical trial for prophylaxis of HAE together with our US partner Santarus, (NASDAQ: SNTS )." After completion of this transaction the number of outstanding shares will increased from 229,870,216 to 332,434,319. The new shares will be admitted to listing and trading on Euronext Amsterdam pursuant to a listing prospectus which is expected to be published next week upon AFM approval on the Company's website and on the AFM website. Roth Capital Partners acted as the lead placement agent to Pharming in this transaction. ENDS About Pharming Group NV Pharming Group NV is developing innovative products for the treatment of unmet medical needs. RUCONEST® (conestat alfa) is a recombinant human C1 esterase inhibitor approved for the treatment of angioedema attacks in patients with HAE in all 27 EU countries plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and is distributed in the EU by Swedish Orphan Biovitrum. RUCONEST® is partnered with Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNTS) in North America and a Biologics License Application (BLA) for RUCONEST® is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The product is also being evaluated for various follow-on indications. Pharming has a unique GMP compliant, validated platform for the production of recombinant human proteins that has proven capable of producing industrial volumes of high quality recombinant human protein in a more economical way compared to current cell based technologies. In July 2013, the Platform was partnered with Shanghai Institute for Pharmaceutical Industry (SIPI), a Sinopharm Company, for joint global development of new products. Pre- clinical development and manufacturing will take place at SIPI and are funded by SIPI. Pharming and SIPI initially plan to utilise this platform for the development of rhFVIII for the treatment of Haemophilia A. Additional information is available on the Pharming website, www.pharming.com . Additional information is available on the Pharming website, www.pharming.com . This press release contains forward looking statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Contact Pharming : Sijmen de Vries, CEO: T: +31 71 524 7400 FTI Consulting : Julia Phillips/ John Dineen, T: +44 (0)207 269 7193 Press release (PDF): http://hugin.info/132866/R/1734470/580934.pdf [HUG#1734470]
