N4 Pharma raises £2.03m via oversubscribed placing

Specialist pharmaceutical company N4 Pharma has raised £2.03m through an oversubscribed placing of 50,731,250 new ordinary shares, it announced on Wednesday, at a price of 4p each.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following the successful placing, it would appoint Turner Pope Investments as its joint broker with effect from admission of the placing shares to AIM.

It said the oversubscribed placing used its existing share authorities, with the placing shares set to represent about 33.33% of its enlarged issued share capital.

The net proceeds would be used to expand the proof-of-concept research on the Covid-19 DNA plasmid project, which it announced on 25 March.

They would also be used to increase manufacture of the Nuvec nanoparticle for further collaboration with partners, as well as for further studies on the use of Nuvec to support the recently-filed patent on its use for viral vector manufacture.

Finally, they would also be used to fund the company’s ongoing growth, including for working capital purposes.

N4 Pharma said the fundraising included a combination of new and existing institutional and other investors.

“We are delighted with the support for the company through the placing in challenging market conditions,” said chief executive officer Nigel Theobald.

“We continue to demonstrate the potential Nuvec has as a delivery system for nucleic acids.”

Theobald said the current focus on Covid-19 highlighted how important delivery systems were for developing successful vaccines.

“The funds raised will allow us to accelerate work to aid our commercial discussions to license Nuvec.”

At 1430 BST, shares in N4 Pharma were down 26.23% at 4.5p.