Creo Medical Group raises up to £48.5m in placing

Medical device company Creo Medical Group has conditionally raised up to £48.5m before expenses, it announced on Friday, by way of three share placings by Cenkos Securities at 125p per ordinary share.

The AIM-traded firm said the proposed placing, which was “significantly” oversubscribed, was raising the amount through the issue of up to 38.8 million shares.

It explained that up to £5m before expenses was being raised through the EIS/VCT placing, £3.5m before expenses through the additional EIS/VCT placing, and £40m before expenses through the non-VCT/EIS Placing

Expected net proceeds receivable by the company from the placing would be up to £46m.

Creo said the placing remained conditional on the company obtaining approval from its shareholders to disapply statutory pre-emption rights, and to grant the board authority to allot the placing shares and admission.

It said the additional EIS/VCT placing, but not the EIS/VCT placing or the non-VCT/EIS placing, was conditional on additional VCT advanced assurance being obtained from HMRC.

“We would like to thank both existing and new shareholders for their support,” said Creo chief executive Craig Gulliford.

“The monies raised will enable us to accelerate our commercialisation strategy, complete the development of our existing surgical suite of minimally invasive instruments and develop new products, as well as attract partners and enable the potential for strategic M&A.

“We believe that our CROMA advanced energy electrosurgery platform and range of devices are at the vanguard in the evolution of minimally invasive surgical procedures for gastrointestinal diseases, with our first product, Speedboat, already transforming outcomes for patients and hospitals here in the UK.”