Sunshine $8m bid for clinical trials
May 16, 2009
HEART device maker Sunshine Heart is tapping shareholders for up to $8 million, but says the money is for clinical trials rather than a stake in troubled heart pump producer Ventracor.
Sunshine announced it will ask investors to stump up between $5 million and $8 million to take its C-Pulse device through its 20-person trial and prepare for a more substantial trial next year, the final hurdle before the product is able to be sold in the US.
Although details on the raising have not yet been released, it reflects the dwindling cash reserves of the company, which by the end of March had hit $3.9 million after the company burnt through $1.9 million in the previous three months. While the discount for the new equity has yet to be revealed, shares in the company fell 15 per cent, or 0.9¢, to 5.1¢.
The company will undertake the raising without its chief financial officer and company secretary, Brian Bolton, who retired from the role. Mr Bolton will be replaced as secretary by financial controller Rowena Hubble, who said the company was not likely to make a play for Ventracor, which is in the hands of administrators Ferrier Hodgson.
"At this point, no we're not looking at any acquisitions," Ms Hubble told BusinessDay.
Ferrier Hodgson is believed to be considering selling Ventracor's assets to an American medical device company for $10 million, but a group of investors calling themselves the Ventracor Shareholders Group is seeking to recapitalise the company and replace its management.
The shareholders say they have received pledges totalling more than that committed in an aborted share purchase plan attempted by the company to raise $10 million in the months before it was handed over to the administrators.
Although both Sunshine and Ventracor manufacture heart products, a Sunshine insider said they used different technologies and so there would be limited synergy benefits in a takeover.
Sunshine's C-Pulse, a heart assist therapy that stimulates the heart but has no contact with the bloodstream, is for people with moderate heart failure while Ventracor's left ventricular assist device is implanted in the patient's chest and is intended for people with more advanced heart problems.
The Ventracor Shareholder Group is seeking substantial investors in order to produce a deed of company arrangement to satisfy Ferrier Hodgson, whose responsibility lies with the company's creditors. Shares in the company remain in a trading halt at 8.3¢.
http://business.theage.com.au/business/sunshine-8m-bid-for-clinical-trials-20090515-b645.html
And
http://www.businessday.com.au/business/sunshine-plea-gets-to-heart-of-matter-20090515-b61i.html
VCR
ventracor limited
