OptiBiotix Health PLC’s (LON:OPTI) subsidiary, ProBiotix Health Limited, has raised around £1mln to fund a potential initial public offering (IPO).
The life sciences firm said ProBiotix had issued convertible loan notes (CLNs) to raise the funds, with the IPO in line with its strategy of forming separate divisions which would eventually become separate legal entities.
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OptiBiotix has subscribed for £250,000 of CLNs. Steve O'Hara, the chief executive of the company, has subscribed for £25,000 while certain close family members had subscribed for £265,000. In addition, Per Rehné, the company’s commercial director, subscribed for £25,000. The remaining subscribers include two institutional investors and two industry partners.
The CLNs can be converted at a 50% discount to the issue price of ProBiotix shares in the event of an IPO. The CLNs carry an interest rate of 3% per annum above the Bank of England Base Rate, which currently stands at 0.75%.
O'Hara said: "ProBiotix Health has made strong progress in the last 18 months signing seventeen commercial agreements, including three agreements taking its cholesterol-reducing Lactobacillus plantarum strain into the high-value pharmaceutical drug market.
He added: “OptiBiotix directors believe that this division has now reached a stage of scientific and commercial maturity where it may be advantageous to explore opportunities for a public listing to exploit the unique window of opportunity created by the narrowing of the interface between pharmacology and nutritional products and create the potential for substantial future value enhancement.”