Alchemia options worth $2m exercised

The Dow Chemical Company has exercised AUD$2 million worth of options in manufacturing partner Alchemia (ASX:ACL).

The 3,669,936 options were exercised at an average strike price of $0.56 per share for a total consideration of $2.068 million and were granted to Dow in accordance with a technology collaboration and licensing agreement executed between the two companies in December 2000.

"Dow's options expire on December 7 and these are the ones that are in the money -- they also have another couple of million dollars worth at $1.58," said Alchemia CFO Christopher Neal.

Last week the company announced it had raised AUD$14.6 million through a share placement. Alchemia also opened a share purchase plan (SPP) offering an additional $5 million to existing shareholders, which closes on December 2.

Alchemia and Dow have a manufacturing alliance for the large-scale custom synthesis of novel and existing compounds for pharmaceuticals or other applications. This alliance includes the manufacture of Alchemia's anti-blood clotting drug synthetic heparin at Dow's Michigan facility in the US.

Alchemia's shares were steady at $1.38 at the time of writing.