MELBOURNE, Australia—Opthea Limited (ASX:OPT; NASDAQ: OPT), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for progressive retinal diseases, confirmed it has received binding commitments for a successful two-tranche placement of new fully paid ordinary shares to institutional investors to raise approximately $90 million (Australia $128.57 million) at a price of Australia $1.15 per new share, a 12.6 percent discount to the 10-day volume-weighted average price as of Aug. 10, 2022, according to an announcement from the company.
Opthea has entered into a non-dilutive financing arrangement for up to $170 million with Carlyle and Abingworth, in collaboration with their recently formed development company Launch Therapeutics, of which $50 million will be paid shortly after Opthea receives the proceeds from the first tranche of the Placement, with the remainder being funded in two additional future tranches.
The proceeds of the placement and share purchase plan, together with proceeds from the non-dilutive financing arrangement and cash on hand, will be used to continue advancing Phase 3 clinical trials of OPT-302 for the treatment of wet AMD through topline data readout, fund pre-commercialization activities, including commercial scale manufacturing, team build and market shaping, and provide additional working capital post the Phase 3 trial topline data readout (expected to be mid-CY24), Opthea said.
MST Financial (Australia) and Jefferies LLC (U.S.) acted as joint lead managers on the placement.