Shares in Advanced Oncotherapy PLC (LON:AVO) edged higher this morning after the proton therapy specialist secured a new £1.5mln, one-year loan with Blackfinch Investment.
This brings the total financing from Blackfinch to £6.5mln, following on from two prior agreements announced back in March and April of this year.
Unlike those two other arrangements, this loan is secured against known cash receivables and will be paid back once AVO receives those monies. The maximum loan term is one year, with the start backdated to 24 March 2017.
The loan carries an annual interest rate of 12%, and comes with 500,000 warrants which can be exercised at 100p each over the next five years.
Ed Lee appointed as new COO
Alongside the announcement of the new £1.5mln loan, AVO revealed it has appointed Ed Lee to the position of chief operating officer with immediate effect. He won’t be taking a seat board, however.
Lee joined the company earlier this year and will now be responsible for spearheading the operations and project management of AVO’s LIGHT proton therapy system.
He was previously the director of production and field service at Optivus Proton Therapy Inc and has worked across several heavily-regulated industries including with the aerospace and defence, nuclear and medical devices sectors.
“Ed's background gives him excellent insight into every step of the production and clinical-user processes for our LIGHT system,” said chief executive Nicolas Serandour.
He will be responsible for leading and driving the team to develop and produce the LIGHT system in an efficient and timely manner as demonstrated consistently in his previous roles.”
Shares nudged almost 5% higher to 16.5p.