The shareholders of Chinese company Innovative Medical have approved the $30 million investment in Israeli placenta-based cell therapy products developer Pluristem Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq:PSTI; DAX: PJT; TASE: PSTI PSTI). The investment is made at a 15% premium on the company's share price on the announcement date, October 25. Although the company's share price has since risen 2.4%, the investment still provides a significant premium on the price of the share. Pluristem's market cap is NIS 476 million, while Innovative, the subsidiary of China's venture capital fund ZSVC, is traded on Shenzhen Stock Exchange with a market cap of $1.43 billion.
Following this investment, Innovative will become the largest shareholder in the Israeli company. Pluristem, which has no other notable shareholders, has been managed for over a decade, since it has been merged into a Nasdaq shell corporation, by CEO Zami Aberman and President and COO Yaky Yanay. Pluristem currently has no Chinese operations and the agreement between the companies does not include a plan for such an activity. However, Pluristem believes that the deal can open doors in China and enable it to find a marketing partner there, when it becomes relevant.
In 2017, Pluristem is due to present a stem cell treatment trial result for intermittent claudication, caused by limb blood vessel blockage. In 2018 or 2019, it is expected to present results from phase III trials in limb blood vessel blockage and in the field of orthopedics, trials which are to commence in 2017. So far, Pluristem has raised most of its capital on Nasdaq. Before the investment, the company had $32 million in cash, after having spent $18 million in the past year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 13, 2016
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