NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Accelerate Diagnostics has filed a regulatory document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a rights offering to existing shareholders to raise about $20 million in gross proceeds.
The Tucson, Ariz.-based firm also said that it has a standby commitment from Abeja Ventures to purchase shares of Accelerate's common stock not subscribed for by shareholders in connection to the offering. Owners of Abeja include members of Accelerate's management team and board, including President and CEO Lawrence Mehren, John Patience, Jack Schuler, and Matthew Strobeck.
Accelerate said the offering is to raise equity capital "in a cost-effective manner that gives all of the company's existing stockholders the opportunity to participate on a pro rata basis." Net proceeds will go toward working capital and funding of Accelerate's business plan and product commercialization work.
In its Form 10-KT filed with SEC in March, Accelerate said that in 2013 it plans to continue technical validation of its BACcel rapid bacterial diagnostic system methods and field studies, including pilot clinical studies at Denver Health and Barnes-Jewish Hospital and others.
The subscription price on the offering has not been determined, but will be based on the closing market price of the company's stock on the latest practicable date before the launch of the rights offering, Accelerate said. The record date for the distribution of the rights and the dates for the subscription period and the expiration of the rights offering will be included in the final prospectus.
The offering includes an over-subscription privilege permitting each holder who exercises the basic subscription privilege in full to purchase additional shares of common stock that are unsubscribed when the offer expires.
Last June, the firm, which had been called Accelr8, completed a deal that brought it a $35 million investment. As a result of that transaction, Mehren became CEO of the company, and he, Patience, and Schuler were named to its board.