Unilife Medical Poised for NASDAQ: UNIS Trading DebutBy: Mike...

Unilife Medical Poised for NASDAQ: UNIS Trading Debut
By: Mike Havrilla Wednesday, January 13, 2010 12:30 PM
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During the second week of January, Unilife Medical Solutions (ASX: UNI.AX) (OTC: UNIFF.PK) shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Company's U.S. relocation. Unilife is now in the final stages of preparation for a NASDAQ: UNIS stock market trading debut, which is expected to occur by the end of February in conjunction with the Company's re-domiciliation to Central Pennsylvania. Unilife is emerging as a leading innovator in the medical device manufacturing space with a focus on safety syringes and business segments that include pre-filled syringes for pharmaceutical companies to deliver injected medications, sharps safety devices for healthcare facilities, and contract manufacturing services.
Unilife USA will replace Unilife Australia as the entity which is listed on the ASX. Unilife Australia shareholders will receive common stock or CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs) in Unilife USA. The CDIs will trade on the ASX and are analogous to American Depository Receipts (ADRs), which represent ownership stakes in foreign companies that trade on U.S. financial exchanges. Unilife USA will trade on the NASDAQ with ticker UNIS' and six CDIs will be equivalent to one ordinary share in Unilife USA.

Last December, Unilife announced the construction of a 165,000 square foot development that will house the Company's new global headquarters and a commercial production facility at 250 Cross Farm Lane in York, PA. The new facility will also include a 54,000 square foot office space for administrative, marketing, research / development, and quality control. The first stage of the new manufacturing facility will include automated assembly lines with annual capacity of 360 million units per year for Unifill, in addition to other assembly lines for Unitract 1mL safety syringes and other medical device contract manufacturing systems. There is a built-in option and strategy to allow for future expansion, including an additional 100,000 square foot in connected production space that would provide Unifill manufacturing capacity of 1 billion syringes per year.

The new facility is expected to be operational by late 2010 and is being developed on a 38 acre parcel of land at a projected cost of $26 million, which included favorable terms for Unilife in terms of acquiring the land and the project development / contractor expense because of the overall economic conditions in the region which make this situation a buyer's market (construction costs are down an estimated 25-30% from two years ago). However, Unilife has contracted with Keystone Redevelopment Group and HSC Builders and Constructions Managers, which are top tier organizations that serve Fortune 500 companies for economic development projects and specialize in the construction of customized facilities for leading life science / healthcare companies, respectively.



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