A Medical Device Daily
Arrowhead Research (Pasadena, California), a diversified nanotechnology company, reported that it will sell 5,590,000 shares of restricted common stock to York Capital Management and Knott Partners, raising about $20 million.
Arrowhead said that the financing will accelerate growth and strengthen its “strategic position within the emerging field of nanotechnology.“
“We think Arrowhead's innovative and scalable business model will position it well in this growth industry. We are delighted to partner with Bruce, Leon and the Arrowhead team, helping them to accelerate their plans for investment and growth,“ said Alexander Klabin, senior vice president of York Capital.
John Schneller of Knott Partners, an existing shareholder, added, “We are excited to increase our ownership position to approximately 12.50% from 9.50% in this promising emerging growth company.“
York will purchase 4,161,429 shares of restricted common stock and Knott will purchase 1,428,571 shares of restricted common stock at $3.50 per share. Additionally, York and Knott will receive, in the aggregate, warrants to purchase an additional 1,397,500 shares of restricted common stock at $5.04 per share.
Arrowhead is developing products for the life sciences, electronics and energy markets.
In other financing activity:
• Omnicare (Covington, Kentucky) said that the underwriters of its previously announced offering of 12,825,000 shares of common stock, which closed on Dec. 15, exercised their option in part to purchase another 850,000 shares at $59.72 a share, less discounts and commissions. Sale of the additional shares is expected to close on Jan. 17, 2006.
Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch & Co acted as joint book-running managers and Wachovia Securities, CIBC World Markets, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Thomas Weisel Partners acted as co-managers for the common stock offering.
Omnicare is the largest U.S. provider of professional pharmacy, related consulting and data management services for skilled nursing, assisted living and other institutional healthcare providers as well as for hospice patients in homecare and other settings.
• Firsthand Capital Management (San Jose, California) reported the launch of its Firsthand Health Sciences Fund, describing it as a no-load fund investing in companies across all capitalization ranges in the healthcare sector. It did not detail the size of the fund or the size of individual investments to be made.
It said the fund uses the capabilities of two sub-advisors, Evergreen Investment Management (Boston) and Sectoral Asset Management (Montreal).
Firsthand Health Sciences Fund invests in medical device and supply companies, pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies and healthcare service providers.
Established in 1993, Firsthand Capital reports that it is managing about $850 million on behalf of institutional and individual investors and serves as investment adviser to the Firsthand Funds family of sector mutual funds.