Epitan raises $8 million in private placement

EpiTan (ASX: EPT) has raised AUD$7.98 million via a private placement of 10.5 million fully paid ordinary with two European investors.

The shares were issued at AUD$0.76, a 6.4 per cent discount to the three-month volume weighted average price of AUD$0.91.

8.5 million shares were placed with FM Fund Management, run out of Zurich by hedge fund manager Florian Homm. Its Absolute Return Europe Fund is now a substantial shareholder in EpiTan, holding 6.8 per cent of the company’s shares.

A further 2 million shares were placed with UK biotech investment fund Mercury Investments.

Epitan also issued 6.6 million unlisted options exercisable over three years at AUD$1.03, which would provide it with a further AUD$6.87 in cash. EpiTan’s executive chairman and CEO, Dr Wayne Millen said the placement bought Epitan’s cash reserves to approximately AUD$13 million.

At time of writing shares in Epitan were trading at $0.87.