Admedus Ltd (ASX:AHZ) directors have demonstrated their confidence in the company’s medical technology strategy by participating in a rights issue which has raised $18.96 million.
The partially underwritten issue closed earlier this month after receiving 5.37 million worth of applications with an additional $13.58 million worth of shares placed with underwriters.
Admedus also has the right to place the shortfall valued at $1.2 million within three months of the closure of the rights issue.
READ: Admedus closes rights issue, secures $18.9 million
Chairman John Seaburg acquired 700,000 shares with a value of $56,000 and now holds 885,703 shares.
President and CEO Wayne Paterson also acquired 700,000 shares and now holds 916,667 shares.
Entities associated with new director Lishan Zhang acquired almost 62.9 million shares with a total value of more than $5.03 million:
Another new director, Dr Yanheng Wu, also holds indirect interests in Constellation Immunotherapy and Constellation International Group.
An equal number of options were allocated to rights issue participants at an exercise price of 8 cents, expiring on December 18, 2021.
READ: Admedus appoints Star Bright nominees as non-executive directors
Both were recently appointed to the board as non-executive directors representing major investor Star Bright Holding Ltd.
Zhang is a highly successful businesswoman and entrepreneur with a significant network in China that is expected to greatly benefit Admedus.
She is the chair of Constellation International, a Hong Kong-based company with multiple interests in the development of new biotechnology assets including vaccines, nanotechnology, biomedical materials and minimally invasive tumour treatments.
Dr Wu is president and managing director of Constellation International and has a PhD in tumour immunotherapy and nanocarrier technology from The University of Queensland.
In 2016, he established Guangzhou Hearty-Care Biotechnology Ltd, a medical technology company that is now owned by Constellation International.
Constellation International is strengthening its capabilities in the research and development of medical technology and commercialising innovative products.
The company plans to build a world-class life science industry complex in Shenzhen.
It intends to form a joint venture with Admedus to help commercial operations in China and fund clinical development programs.
Developing ADAPT portfolio
Funding secured from the capital raising will support Admedus in consolidating and further developing its ADAPT portfolio and position itself for the development of new products in 2019.
ADAPT is a pioneering technology that enables the manufacture of biomaterial scaffolds that mimic human tissue.
It has been used to create scaffolds, such as the next generation collagen scaffold VascuCel, used in cardiac repairs and reconstruction procedures for many years.
The rights issue marks an important step in Admedus’ recapitalisation plan that it has been working towards since August 2018.