Biotechnology company MannKind Corporation (Nasdaq: MNKD, TASE: MNKD) has announced that Hakan Edstrom has stepped down as the president and CEO and as a director of the company. The board of directors of MannKind has appointed founder Alfred Mann as interim CEO, with effect from November 19. Mann will continue to serve as executive chairman while a committee of the board searches for a permanent CEO.
US company MannKind dual-listed in the Tel Aviv Stock exchange last month, under Israel's Dual listing Law (Chapter Five "C" of the Securities Law 1968, which permits listing in Israel of securities that are traded on specific foreign exchanges - NASDAQ, New York Stock Exchange, and the London Stock Exchange). The company's aim was to utilize the right that the Tel Aviv Stock exchange gives of automatic accession to stock indices (in this case, the Tel Aviv 100, the Tel Aviv 75, and other market indices) for dual-listing companies, in order to raise money directly from Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), that track the indices and must hold the stocks that compose them, though a private placement of shares.
However, public pressure in Israel against high-risk US biotechnology companies joining the Tel Aviv indices in order to raise money quickly and easily from ETF holders led the Israel Securities Authority to try to stop the phenomenon, even though this Is not within its direct area of responsibility.
MannKind, which has developed and sells an inhalation powder to control high blood sugar in adult patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, is a loss-making company that needs to raise additional capital to finance its continued activity. In the first nine months of 2015, MannKind lost $91 million, and had negative cash flow of $35 million. In addition, the company repaid $65 million to bondholders, and its cash balance consequently shrank from $121 million at the end of 2014 to just $33 million at the end of September 2015.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 22, 2015
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