Eiffel wooed by US VC agents

In what it hopes is the first step towards a Nasdaq listing, Melbourne platform technology biotech Eiffel Technologies has appointed New York-based introduction agents Global Markets Capital Corporation (GMCC) to represent it on the US investor market.

Eiffel's chairman, Tom Hartigan, said the move would be instrumental in bringing Eiffel to the attention of overseas investors, and as such a first step towards Nasdaq listing, possibly as soon as the end of next year.

"This move opens another door for us. We still have to do the hard yards, and they are definitely getting harder. At the moment it is very difficult to get money from any sources, but if we can add value to what we are offering then it should be easier. So it's not a completely bad thing that the market is hardening the way it is right now," he said.

Describing Eiffel's situation at the moment as "looking good', Hartigan said the agreement with GMCC would bring valuable US exposure to the company's product line, especially its supercritical fluid (SCF) drug delivery technology.

Mark Saunders, GMCC president, said the drug delivery market was projected to grow to $US100 billion by 2005 and was currently the highest growth area in the pharmaceutical industry.

"Approximately half of the currently prescribed pharmaceuticals on the market have absorption problems and a third of new drugs have formulation problems when they go into production," he said. All this bodes well for Eiffel which has pinned its hopes on SCF to ease delivery problems and extend patent life of existing drugs, as well as be incorporated into new developments.

"GMCC has an Australian president who has specialised in picking good Australian companies with low capitalisation. We obviously popped up on their radar because they came to us with this proposition," said Hartigan.

Eiffel was approached by GMCC after the latter identified it as a company worth watching and had authored an investors report on the strength of the young biotech's potential.

The arrangement involves giving GMCC 800,000 shares at 18c each, plus options further down the track if all goes well on the new investment front. Eiffel also pays a small retainer each month, but is not required to part with any of its cash reserves in order to make the deal work.

"The good thing is we don't have to put up any money for the arrangement," said Hartigan. "We are hoping to see several new investors buying into [us] over the next six months. This overseas interest is what we want to see," he asserted.

Commenting on the projected Nasdaq float, Hartigan said at the moment it was an "out there" idea, which would come into its own when Eiffel started looking for what he called "serious capital".

The overseas financial interest is timely for Eiffel, which has just signed another agreement for its core technology with "a major pharmaceutical company", and has also committed to a pilot production facility to start delivering around Q1 next year.