Australian clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6) has announced the successful completion of a $203 million placement to institutional investors.
The company said the offer price per new fully paid ordinary share issued under the placement was $4.20, representing a 2.2 per cent premium to its last closing price and an 18 per cent premium to the 15-day Volume Weighted Average Price.
Clarity said that following the placement, it will have a pro forma cash balance of approximately $288 million.
Executive Chairperson, Dr Alan Taylor, said, “The last eight months have been an incredibly tumultuous period for global markets generally, driven by the US political environment. When these times occur, pre-revenue biotechnology companies can be affected significantly more than other businesses due to their need to raise capital in order to get products to market. In addition to the global financial turmoil, there has been some unfortunate news from local biotechnology companies, putting significant pressure on the Australian biotechnology market.
"Being a successful pre-revenue biotechnology company listed on the ASX also presents additional considerations. For Clarity in particular, the inclusion of the company in a number of indices over this period, such as the ASX200 and ASX300, has significantly raised the profile of the company to certain investor groups, including index funds. These factors, amongst other variables, have contributed to the volatility in Clarity’s share price and an increasing number of short positions in our company, reaching approximately 10% of our current total number of shares on issue.
“However, during this period of volatility, our team has not lost sight of our purpose: to better the lives of people living with cancer. This drive has resulted in the achievement of many substantial milestones across our entire business, including outstanding clinical trial data, validation of new products in pre-clinical development, roll-out of enhanced supply and manufacturing in preparation for potential commercialisation and a number of important regulatory objectives.
“The coalescing of strong company fundamentals with ASX investor dynamics provided Clarity with an opportunity to capitalise with a fast, well-executed and sizeable placement to a small number of institutional investors who are close to the company. The placement has received phenomenal support, evidenced by the raising of over $200 million at not only a premium to the last closing share price, but a substantial premium to the share price observed for almost the entirety of CY2025. This places Clarity in a strong position, with an enviable Balance Sheet, where we can work to complete a number of high-value driving clinical trials, including our pivotal Phase 3 trials, as we progress our products towards potential commercialisation.
"The completion of the institutional Placement, coupled with significant short- and medium-term deliverables, such as the read-outs of the Co-PSMA trial and the Phase 3 trials, respectively, as well as longer-term activities, such as the further development of our therapy programs, are expected to underpin short-, medium- and longer-term shareholder value growth as we work towards our ultimate goal of better treating people with cancer.”