Drug development company BiolineRX Ltd. (TASE:BLRX) is considering dual listing on Nasdaq. The company’s board instructed management to examine this option, in part because it believes that a secondary offering and trading on Nasdaq will increase value for shareholders because of the potential for increasing the company’s share capital and liquidity.
BiolineRX CEO Morris Laster said, “The value we obtain on the TASE is nowhere close to reflecting our real worth.”
BiolineRX plans to convene a special shareholders meeting to approve a share capital consolidation for the purpose of the proposed dual listing. The consolidation is necessary to meet the threshold share price conditions for listing on Nasdaq.
“Globes”: Why did you go public on the TASE instead of going directly to Nasdaq? Your investors could have maintained you for another year.
Laster: “Without the TASE, it’s quite possible that we could not have taken the next step. The money we raised on the TASE enabled us to calmly make progress towards out milestones, without worrying about cash. We could have held more private placements, but then we’d have less cash and we’d have to raise capital more frequently, and devote more time and effort to this. Today, we’re heading for an offering on a foreign market from a position of strength. If the market won’t give us satisfactory value, or if it is in a temporary crisis, we’ll forego the offering without worry.”
BiolineRX has a number of products in the pipeline in preclinical stages and undergoing clinical trials. The drugs are aimed at meeting existing medical needs. The company’s leading drug is BL-1020, a treatment for schizophrenia, and BL-1040, a treatment for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). Less advanced products include treatments for prostate cancer, solid tumors, Parkinson’s disease, and osteomyelitis (acute or chronic inflammatory process of the bone).
It’s said that it’s not possible to build a good offering on Nasdaq without a presence in the US. Do you have plans to move your headquarters or part of your activity to the US?
Laster: “We have no such plans. This is an Israeli company and will stay an Israeli company. I didn’t immigrate to Israel to emigrate back. The company’s relative advantage is, among other things, its ties with universities in Israel. We’re dedicated to our path and we have no plans to lose our way, as has happened to other companies.”
If you’re holding an offering, you won’t necessarily always have control of the company’s location and orientation. Have you put in place mechanisms to protect your interests in general and the company’s Israeli identity in particular/
“There is no such mechanism, and anyone who wants to buy shares can do so. If at some point, the board wants to replace me, there will be little that I can do, but so long as I am CEO of this company, this will be its direction. The company isn't registered in Delaware with activity in Israel; it is an Israeli company, and if it opens an office in the US, that will be a subsidiary of the Israeli activity.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 17, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007