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Genetic Analysis AS (“GA” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has successfully placed a directed issue and on basis of commitments received from current major shareholders, the board of directors of GA has conditionally allocated 12,396,933 new shares at a subscription price of NOK 0.79 per share (the “Directed Issue”), through which the Company may raise approximately NOK 10 million before transaction related costs. Subscribers of the Directed Issue is a group of existing shareholders, including the Company’s main shareholder Bio-Rad Laboratories. The Directed Issue is anticipated to be expanded with a separate tranche of up to an additional amount of NOK 0,7 million at identical terms which will be available for subscription by individuals from the Board of Directors and management (“PDMR’s”) which due to regulatory restrictions are restricted from subscribing shares prior to publication of the Company’s 2023 Q3 report. The Directed Issue is subject to approval by an extraordinary general meeting in the Company planned to be held on or about November 20, 2023 (the “EGM”). Notice of the EGM will be published via a separate press release. The net proceeds from the Directed Issue will be applied for the purpose of financing the Company’s continued expansion and growth plan. The subscription price of the Directed Issue corresponds to a discount of approximately 20 percent compared to the volume-weighted average price during the period from and including September 19, 2023, to and including October 30, 2023, and a premium of approximately 13 percent compared to the closing price of the share on November 2, 2023. In order to reduce the dilution effect from the Directed Issue and to potentially raise additional financing, the Company intends to carry out a subsequent offering with the same subscription price as in the Directed Issue of up to approximately NOK 9 million with preferential rights for shareholders per the date of the Directed Issue November 2, 2023 which have not been allocated shares in the Directed Issue (the “Subsequent Offering”). In connection with the Directed Issue, GA has also entered into a non-binding letter of intent with its Chinese diagnostic partner Shanghai Thalys Medical Laboratory Co. LTD (“Thalys”), whereby Thalys has expressed an intention to subscribe for shares with an aggregate subscription amount of USD 500,000 within the first quarter of 2024. In relation to the proposed Directed Issue and intended Subsequent Offering the Company has decided to forward the publication date for the interim report of the third quarter and first nine months of 2023 to today, November 2, 2023. The Company, moreover, communicates updated milestones.
Ronny Hermansen, CEO of Genetic Analysis AS, comments: “We are pleased by the strong interest from our key shareholders in response to our capital raise and we thank our largest shareholder, Bio-Rad Laboratories, as well as our loyal existing shareholders who have continued to show trust in us. We are happy to see that the number of laboratory customers implementing the GA-map® are growing month by month globally and that this capital raise provides GA with the financial resources needed to further expand the commercialization of our microbiome diagnostic platform. In connection with the raise, we update our forthcoming goals for the coming years thanks to the significant progress we have made with our GA-map® diagnostic platform.”
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