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Welcome to the Deal Room Week in Review.
Firebrick Pharma (ASX:FRE) recorded the most successful ASX listing so far this year, instantly rewarding IPO shareholders as it opened last Friday with 195 per cent gains.
The company’s share price has held up throughout the week and opened at 59c this morning.
Co-founder Peter Molloy was behind Betadine Sore Throat Gargle. Firebrick Pharma is now using the same ingredient base to develop a COVID and common cold-fighting nasal spray.
“It’s a well-advanced product and once it’s approved, we believe it will be seen as the world’s first nasal spray medicine that actually targets the viral cause of the common cold, where colds start and where they propogate, which is in the nose,” he said.
Dr Molloy said shareholders need not fear that Firebrick could be beaten to the market.
“We have a very strong patent position on the use of any form of povidone-iodine in the nose – as a treatment, or preventative – for the common cold. Any company that promoted that use would be in breach of our patents,” he said.
Through the IPO process, Firebrick Pharma raised $7 million with 20c shares. The company’s market cap sits at $100 million.
Meanwhile, fellow ASX debutant Felix Gold (ASX:FXG) dropped 32 per cent on debut, but raised $10 million to explore for gold in Alaska.
MD and CEO Dr Kylie Prendergast said the gold price had impacted the stock.
“When we raised our capital, we raised that at 25c and I think that certainly attests to the value of our underlying assets,” she said.
“We’re not an early-stage explorer, we do have quite a lot of advanced projects.”
Felix Gold will begin drilling historic works in Alaska next month. It’s market cap sits below $30 million and share trade opened at 18c this morning.
To this week’s capital raising and Arovella Therapeutics (ASX:ALA) lifted on news the company’s cornerstone investor, life sciences company Merchant, had committed $3 million to a $4.57 million placement.
Arovella also launched an underwritten Share Purchase Plan for another $1.5 million to advance its cell therapy treatments for blood cancers.
Managing Director Michael Baker said the funds would take the company’s lead therapy from pre-clinical stages to manufacturing ready for clinical trials.
“We’re hoping to do that as expeditiously as we can, so we can get that into clinic and into the hands of patients,” he said.
Dr Baker said cell therapies had changed the way developers were looking at cancer treatments.
“We’re actually using the word ‘cure’, which is not a word that we typically use, so it’s a great time to be involved in these therapies,” he said.
Arovella shares were trading at 4.3 cents at open this morning and the company has a market cap above $25 million.
Enterprise Metals (ASX:ENT) launched a non-renounceable entitlement offer for just over $1 million to fund its hunt for lithium as well as gold and base metals in Western Australia.
Non-executive director Dermot Ryan said the region north of Southern Cross hadn’t been explored for lithium.
“Recently we’ve added lithium to the portfolio because we have a project called Bullfinch North, (which is) north of Southern Cross,” he said.
“The Southern Cross Greenstone Belt has gained a lot of notoriety because of the Earl Grey lithium deposit.
“The area north of Southern Cross has not been prospected historically for lithium because it’s a relatively new commodity. After the gold price rise in the ‘70s there was quite a lot more gold exploration, and subsequently nickel exploration, but nobody’s ever looked for lithium before and so we’re commencing a major soil sampling program beginning in March this year.”
The entitlement offer closes on February 14, with shares issued at 1.4c. Enterprise Metals’ shares traded at 1.5c this morning. The company’s market cap sits at about $8 million.
Other capital raises announced this week include: First Group (ASX:1ST); Maxiparts (ASX:MXI), Emperor Energy (ASX:EMP), Caprice Resources (ASX:CRS), 3D Resources (ASX:DDD) and Javelin Minerals (ASX:JAV).
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