By Lisa Seachrist

Washington Editor

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based LJL BioSystems Inc. raised $19 million in a private placement of unregistered shares of common stock.

The company sold 1.76 million shares of common stock to new and current investors at a price of $11 per share. Because the shares have yet to be registered with the SEC and can’t be traded until they are, the company offered the shares at a substantial discount to Thursday’s market close of $18.75 a share for LJL stock (NASDAQ:LJLB), down $1.25.

“We’re real pleased with this financing,” said Larry Tannenbaum, chief financial officer for LJL. “It helps to strengthen our balance sheet and our cash position. We’ve sort of topped off the fuel tank.”

Tannenbaum said the shares will be registered with the SEC over the next few months. The proceeds from the financing will go to “general corporate purposes and working capital.”

In September, LJL announced it was extending its high-throughput screening capabilities to include genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Tannenbaum said some of the funds will be used to further that effort.

“We believe we’ve shown good progress on SNP genotyping,” Tannenbaum said. “We think there is an opportunity there that is untapped.”

When the new shares are registered with the SEC, the company will have approximately 14.5 million shares of common stock and roughly $26 million cash on hand.