Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of the specialist contract research organisation, Open Orphan (ORPH ), said he expects Poolbeg Pharma to attract more high-quality long-term investors following the end of Poolbeg's lock-up arrangemen over legacy in specie shares.
Addressing shareholders this morning, he highlighted: “Due to the nature of the lock-up period, which was designed to allow for an orderly market following Poolbeg’s admission to AIM, prospective investors looking to build more substantial stakes were unable to do so.”
He also explained to investors that these proposals ensure that any potential shares sold will be going to quality, long-term holders, “whilst giving distribution in specie shareholders the option to sell shares prior to the end of the lock-up period, if they choose to do so.”
He added that shareholders could expect to see substantially greater liquidity in the company's shares once the distribution in specie shares have been distributed after 26 April 2022. He believes this will certainly help the group to attract even more new shareholders.
Poolbeg Pharma was demerged from Open Orphan in June 2021 with the dividend in specie shares that were distributed to shareholders held in trust until later this month on 26 April.
Investors have committed to purchase up to £1.6m of the distribution in specie shares on or around this date at a price of 5.9p per share, the closing market price on Friday 8 April 2022.
The Company detailed that to date, these new investors have shown ‘great interest’ in the Poolbeg story, its significant progress since IPO in July 2021, as well as its capabilities in developing novel products utilising its unique cost-effective model in the fast-growing infectious disease market which is expected to be worth in excess of $250bn by 2025.
Open Orphan said this is a clear vote of confidence in Poolbeg’s prospects as it enters an extremely exciting phase of its development with its first LPS human challenge clinical trial due to start in June 2022 with multiple value inflection points expected in 2022 and beyond.
Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of Open Orphan, said: “We were delighted to see that despite the presently turbulent market that Poolbeg has successfully managed to bring in fresh investors to purchase up to £1.6m at 5.9p, the market price on Friday 8 April 2022.”
Poolbeg remains well capitalised, with around £20.9m in cash at year end 2021. “Importantly, Poolbeg is not raising any new funds as part of this process,” Friel highlighted to investors.
He said: “This arrangement has followed significant efforts to help widen the Poolbeg investor base and increase future liquidity, in order to ensure that the dividend in specie remains as beneficial as possible to shareholders of both Open Orphan and Poolbeg in the long-term.”
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