Anima Cell Metrology seeks to raise $6m in Tel Aviv

Poalim IBI Underwriting and Investments will lead the offering.

Anima Cell Metrology Ltd. has published a draft prospectus for an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). The company seeks to raise $6 million at a company value of $15 million.

Poalim IBI Underwriting and Investments Ltd. (TASE:PIU) will lead the offering.

Anima Cell Metrology was founded by Zeev Smilanksy, a biologist, vintner, and son of the author S. Yizhar; and Dr. Michal Preminger, who previously served as business development manager at Lucent Technologies and Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) and is currently an executive director at Harvard Office of Technology Development.

Anima CEO Roni Appel previously served as CEO of Advaxis Inc. (Bulletin Board: ADXS), which develops cancer vaccines.

Anima has developed a method for testing the activity of proteins in real time, compared with the current method, in which the protein is first destroyed and then analyzed in order to figure out its activity in retrospect. The company's main target market is research laboratories.

The draft prospectus states that Anima does not yet have sales, and that it has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in recent years. The company has raised a few hundred thousand dollars to date, and received a $2 million NIST Advanced Technology Program research grant. The company plans to obtain more research grants in the future.

A group comprising Smilansky, Preminger, and private investors owns 71% of Anima. Other investors included former Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) director Harold Snyder, the LEVP Fund managed by Appel, and angel investors Max Herzberg, Prof. Shmuel Kabili, and Hezi Bernholz.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 14, 2010

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010

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