Drug discovery firm Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) said today that is has completed a fund raising effort which brought it gross proceeds of $20 million through a controlled equity offering facility, led by Cantor Fitzgerald.
Under this facility, a total of approximately 4.1 million ordinary shares were sold at a weighted average price of approximately $4.91 per share. The shares were sold in the open market at prevailing prices during the period November 13, 2009 to December 29, 2009.
After sales commissions and estimated offering expenses, Compugen realized net proceeds of approximately $19 million.
The net proceeds are intended for general corporate purposes.
Compugen CFO Dikla Czaczkes Axselbrad said, “Including the net proceeds from this offering, we expect to have cash resources at year-end 2009 of approximately $23 million, not including the approximately $4 million market value of our holdings of Evogene Ltd. ordinary shares. We anticipate maximum gross cash usage of $8.5 million for 2010, which would be reduced by any revenues or other cash sources, including government or other grants, in calculating 2010 net cash usage."
Czaczkes Axselbrad said that a short-term financial target for the firm is to achieve cash flow breakeven by the end of 2011, based largely on research revenues under milestone and revenue sharing collaboration agreements.
Compugen shares have jumped recently. About a week ago the company's shares soared 75% when it reported a collaboration agreement with Pfizer.
Compugen shares jumped today, after closing yesterday at $4.62. The share was up more than 12% in early Nasdaq trading.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 30, 2009
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