Medical Therapies closes IPO offer oversubscribed

Medical Therapies has completed its IPO capital raising over-subscribed and is likely to list on the ASX on December 9. This is the fourth listing date for the company which issued a replacement prospectus following an unsuccessful attempt to list on the ASX in August.

"The bottom line was it was delayed to we could get all the cheques -- there was nothing sinister about it," said Medical Therapies, managing director Llewellyn Casbolt. "We had a lot of promises and we need to crystalise them in the bank. That seems to be the hardest thing about an IPO."

In August, Medical Therapies narrowed its focus to a single technology, from the University of Sydney, which is used for developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. The company reduced the minimum subscription from AUD$5 million to $3 million and flagged November 16 as the new date for listing. This date was then deferred to the 30 November. The company will now list under the code MTY.

Casbolt was unwilling to confirm the exact figure raised in the IPO. "The minimum was $3 million and we were oversubscribed but we didn't get the whole $5 million," he said.

The Australian this week reported that Professor Tim Hirst, deputy vice-chancellor for research and innovation at Sydney University, 'has stood aside from his post pending an investigation'. The Australian identified him as the public face of Sydney University for Medical Therapies IPO.

When asked about Hirst, Casbolt distanced Medical Therapies and said, "I know absolutely nothing about it whatsoever and as far as we are concerned he has had nothing to do with the IPO. Perhaps from the University's point of view he was the front man but we had nothing to do with him," he said.

Medical Therapies' prospectus does not include mention of Hirst and he does not appear on the company website.