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Subscription of NorDiag shares starts today
26 June 2008: Oslo, Norge June 26 2008 - The subscription period of new shares in NorDiag starts today. Oslo Stock Exchange has today approved the prospectus regarding the offering of subscription of new shares. The company will obtain minimum NOK 30 million and maximum NOK 50 million in new equity by issuance of up to 25 002 457 new shares at subscription price NOK 2. The subscription period will end at July 9. The company`s shareholders at June 18 2008 have pre-emptive rights in the issue, and subscription rights may be traded at Oslo Stock Exchange in the subscription period.
The minimum of 15,000,000 new shares have been underwritten by an underwriting syndicate established by Pareto Private Equity AS. The syndicate consists of both existing NorDiag shareholders and new investors. The syndicate members will be entitled to an underwriting commission equal to 2% of the underwritten amount.
Each share in NorDiag owned as of June 18 2008 gives the right to subscribe and be allotted 0.6524 new shares in the rights issue. The shareholders in NorDiag will receive a prospectus regarding the rights issue.
Reasoning for the rights issue
NorDiag is aiming to be a leading gene based clinical diagnostic company in selected fields where difficult clinical samples are
central. The company has today several products and products under development in the fields of infectious diseases and cancer.
The Company`s business model is based on sale of instruments and consumables (kits). The instruments is a one-time sale. The reagents, which are consumed by the instruments, will lead to repeated sales in 3-5 years.
In the business area Infectious diseases, the company has already a solid foothold in the Scandinavian market for its Sexual Transmitted infections (STI) sample preparation products. The concept is being expanded to cover more diseases. The company is also in the process of establishing partnerships with large players in the industry, as well as sales organizations in rest of Europe and US.
In the field of cancer the company is in the process of developing a new prototype system that will contribute to the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Clinical documentation based on already gathered material will be exercised in Q4 2008, and the plan is to introduce the new test in the market in 2009. The new test will be fully automated and positioned as a complementary test to the FOBT test currently used in the market. The target is that the two tests in combination will deliver a sensitivity and specificity in the range of 80% and 90% respectively.
The net proceeds from the offering will strengthen the company`s financial position, and secure necessary working capital for the completion of the various development programs in the cancer business as well as the infectious diseases business, and commercialization of existing and new products.
Pareto Private Equity AS is manager for the rights issue.
Prospectus is available at
The Company:
Manager:
www.nordiag.com
www.pareto.no
Contact: CEO Mårten Wigstøl Phone. +47 911 65775
About NorDiag:
NorDiag is a biotechnology company developing, manufacturing and marketing of automated solutions, instruments and tests, for diagnostic of infectious diseases and cancer. The Company`s core competence is isolation of bacterial and human DNA from difficult clinical samples, and the Company has established a solid market share in the Scandinavian market for sexually transmitted infections. The company has similar applications for Tuberculosis and MRSA. An application for respiratory pathogens is under development. NorDiag is also developing a test that shall contribute to early diagnosis of colorectal cancer, as well as a test that shall contribute to optimal treatment of lung cancer patients. NorDiag was founded in 2003 and has its headquarters in Oslo - Norway. The company has offices and laboratories in Bergen - Norway, Stockholm - Sweden and West Chester (PA) - USA. The group has 36 employees. NorDiag is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange with the ticker NORD. For further information - www.nordiag.com