Street TalkClarity Pharmaceuticalspreps $110m raise; Bells,...

Street Talk

Clarity Pharmaceuticalspreps $110m raise; Bells, Wilsons mandated

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Mar 25, 2024 – 8.29am

BiotechClarity Pharmaceuticals was warming up fund managers to launch a $110 millionequity raising on Monday morning, making the most of a strong rally in itsshare price.

Sources said Clarity would split the $110 million raise into a placement and a rights issue, with the former making up majority of the raise. The pricing was still being finalised, but was expected to land near the $2.60 mark, lower than Clarity’s $2.85 last close.

Bell Potter was mandated as the lead arranger, while Wilsons Advisory was on the joint lead manager lineup.

Clarity had a $750 million market capitalisation before the raise, and its shares have risen 280 per cent over the past 12 months.

The clinical-stage company is developing copper theranostics based on its SAR technology platform to treat cancer. It was floated by Bell Potter and Jefferies in August 2021 at $1.40 a share, which has doubled to $2.85. KKR-backed cancer care provider GenesisCare, subject of a restructure and US bankruptcy last year, was among Clarity’s substantial shareholders via its ventures arm. However, it sold at 72¢ a share in February 2023.

Clarity was founded in 2010, with intellectual property licenses from the University of Melbourne and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Its proprietary SAR Technology platform pairs copper radioisotopes (copper-64 for diagnosis and copper-67 for therapy) with the aim of achieving superior imaging and accurate therapy. It uses Theranostics – a combination of both therapeutic and diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals – in a single platform.