Angel Biotechnology Holdings Plc General Meeting Statement (4792W)
28 Enero 2013 - 4:04AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMABH
RNS Number : 4792W
Angel Biotechnology Holdings Plc
28 January 2013
28 January 2013
Angel Biotechnology Holdings plc
("Angel" or "the Company")
General Meeting Statement
At the general meeting to be held today at 10.30 am, Mr Nick
Smith, Chairman of the Company will make the following statement to
shareholders:
"I would like to provide shareholders with an update on the
joint venture negotiations with OOO "NPF Materia Medica Holding"
("MMH") and other activities of the Company. As announced on 28
December 2012, AB Biotechnology Ltd has been formed as the company
through which our proposed joint venture with MMH will be
conducted. At the time, it was expected that the agreements would
be signed in mid-January when the directors of both partners would
be on-site at Pentlands Science Park and a more detailed
announcement of the terms of the joint venture would be released at
that time.
I am pleased to state that key terms have been agreed in
principle and we are now expecting the visit from MMH to take place
in early February, subject to visa confirmation. However, the
Company has not progressed documentation as quickly as anticipated,
owing to a decision by the Angel Board to review its options in
light of the trading difficulties and the loss of capital which has
occasioned today's general meeting.
This review is now complete and has shown that the future of the
Company is dependent on not only delivering the proposed joint
venture with MMH but also on the delivery of a second arrangement,
outlined below, concurrent with the proposed MMH transaction. It is
the Directors' view that both transactions are necessary to
effectively address the trading difficulties experienced by the
Company to date, and that without both, the cash resources of the
Company are at risk of exhaustion by the end of March 2013. The
Directors anticipate that the proposed agreement described below
should be ready for signature before the end of March 2013.
Whilst Angel's business development team is progressing a number
of sales opportunities, securing Angel's first orders for
Cramlington are taking longer than the Board had anticipated. The
Board also accepts that raising funds through the market will be
extremely difficult at this time.
Accordingly, in order to secure the future of the Company, the
Board has agreed that the Company needs to enter into a strategic
relationship with another party to develop more effectively its
contract manufacturing ("CMO") business. The Company has for some
time been in discussions with a consortium of overseas
organisations active in developing and marketing products which
match our core manufacturing competences. Following a meeting with
a representative of the consortium at Cramlington on Friday 25
January 2013, matters have now progressed sufficiently to satisfy
the Board that there are reasonable grounds for the Board to expect
a strategic partnership agreement with that consortium will be
concluded before the end of March 2013. The arrangement's objective
is to create a joint venture between Angel and the strategic
partner for the CMO business and will likely involve the creation
of an operating subsidiary of Angel through which the contract
manufacturing business will be conducted. The benefits of this
arrangement will include bringing Cramlington into a state of
readiness to conduct the general CMO business. It is also proposed
to channel significant new orders through the CMO business relating
to products in development by the strategic partner's consortium.
Such an arrangement is anticipated to involve the strategic partner
investing up to GBP1 million in the operating subsidiary.
In order to protect the interests of creditors from a further
deterioration of the Company's financial position, the Board is in
negotiation with MMH for an arrangement to allow ongoing payment of
direct and indirect costs relating to the MMH contracts and, in the
case of the CMO business, for the strategic partner consortium to
provide funding in advance to cover the costs associated with
delivering the transaction and the net costs of the CMO business
until delivery of the transaction. The Board anticipates it is
likely to be in a position shortly to announce the terms of such
arrangements, but the Board will monitor their progress on a daily
basis to ensure that it continues to act in the interest of
creditors.
Your Board believes that both agreements and the arrangements
for pre-funding are essential to the ongoing viability of the
Company. The pre-funding arrangements need to be concluded rapidly
and the agreements for both the MMH joint venture and the CMO
business strategic partnership need to be concluded before the end
of March 2013 given the cash currently available to the Company. In
the absence of other developments, failure to conclude either
agreement or their respective pre-funding arrangements will make it
impossible for the Company to continue trading.
Whilst the discussions so far have given the Board confidence in
the enthusiasm of all parties to conclude these two sets of
agreements, there can be no assurance that either or both will be
concluded.
Developments, which we hope will include positive progress on
both sets of pre-funding arrangements, and the respective final
agreements, will be announced as appropriate."
For further information:
Angel Biotechnology Holdings plc
Nicholas Smith, Non-Executive Chairman +44 (0) 131 445 6077
www.angelbio.com
Grant Thornton, Corporate Finance
Colin Aaronson / Melanie Frean +44 (0) 20 7383 5100
Hybridan LLP (Broker)
Claire Noyce, Deepak Reddy +44 (0) 20 7947 4350
Media enquiries:
The Communications Portfolio Ltd
Philip Ranger / Caolan Mahon +44 (0) 20 7536 2028 / 2029
Notes to Editors:
Angel Biotechnology Holdings plc is a full service contract
bio-manufacturing partner to biotechnology and pharmaceutical
companies worldwide. Angel specialises in advanced biologics
including biopharmaceutical proteins and cell therapies, such as
cellular vaccines and stem cells. At present, Angel's products are
principally used in pre-clinical studies and clinical trials with a
view to becoming the contract manufacturer of choice on a
continuing basis.
Drug development companies outsource their biopharmaceutical
manufacturing requirements to Angel to reduce their own capital
requirements and enable them to develop products more rapidly. In
addition, Angel provides complete regulatory services and
documentation to its customers while its manufacturing processes
adhere to the most stringent regulatory requirements. Products are
produced to current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) standards as
required by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and in
facilities that are certified to European standards by the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Its customers range from pioneering biotechnology companies such
as ReNeuron Group plc to established pharmaceutical companies such
as Russian-based OOO "NPF Materia Medica Holding".
Angel has three facilities: Pentlands Science Park near
Edinburgh, a site in Cramlington, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the
Angel Biomedical Ltd facility in Glasgow.
More information is available at www.angelbio.com .
- Ends -
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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