Vernalis to raise £68.5m 10/02/2012
Drug discoverer Vernalis (VER) is to raise £68.5 million as part of a joint venture with US concern Tris Pharma.
Tony Drury, ex-boss of small company-focused St Helen's Capital, is seeking £1 million for a new venture, The PLUS Fund.
Experienced investment pundit Brian Tora, author, broadcaster and consultant to broker J.M. Finn, is investment director of the new fund, which is raising its initial backing privately at 16p a share and will consider a float on PLUS or AIM later. Drury, who boasts such recent successes as Oakdene Homes, Myhome International and Quercus Publishing among ventures he has backed, said £250,000 is ‘almost in the bag’.
The plan is for an experienced board, including executive director George Wardale (ex-Lonrho, French Connection and Highland Spring) and accountant Gary Millar of H.W. Fisher, to help Drury and Tora pick early-stage growth companies. The fund will concentrate on companies that have the potential to float on PLUS or AIM within two years and it has already paid £25,000 for an option on a shell company being nurtured by Norman Fetterman of corporate adviser Alfred Henry.
Drury argues PLUS Market shares will gain a significant boost to their credibility and institutional support once its application to become a Recognised Investment Exchange is approved. He said The PLUS Fund intends to sell out of the companies it backs when they have appreciably raised their game and pass on the proceeds to fund shareholders through special dividends.
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Drug discoverer Vernalis (VER) is to raise £68.5 million as part of a joint venture with US concern Tris Pharma.
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