Source: 4D Pharma
4D pharma plc (AIM: DDDD, Nasdaq: LBPS), a pharmaceutical company leading the development of Live Biotherapeutic products (LBPs), a novel class of drug derived from the microbiome, provides an update to the announcement released earlier today regarding the Company’s request for an immediate suspension of trading in the Company’s ordinary shares on AIM which took effect from 12.30 p.m. (London).
On 29 July 2021, the Company announced that it had agreed a senior secured credit facility (the “Facility”) for up to US$30m with Oxford Finance LLC (“Oxford”), with an initial tranche of US$12.5 million drawn at closing and further tranches available dependent on the achievement of certain milestones.
The Board has been exploring opportunities to secure additional funding for the Company in recent months, however this has proved challenging but significant progress had been made, despite the very difficult prevailing market conditions. The Board had made Oxford aware of this and discussed a potential funding alternative on the evening of 23 June and on the morning of 24 June, Oxford demanded immediate repayment of the outstanding loans made to the Company, which currently total approximately US$13.86 million, inclusive of accrued interest and associated fees. The Company is not able to make that immediate repayment from its existing cash resources and with no immediate certainty of how that repayment could be made, the Board requested that trading in the ordinary shares be immediately suspended pending clarification of the Company’s financial position.
Subsequent to the suspension, the Board was informed that Oxford had today instructed that the Company be placed into administration, in accordance with the terms of the Facility. Accordingly, James Clark and David Pike of Interpath Advisory have been appointed as joint administrators to 4D pharma plc (the “Joint Administrators”). For the avoidance of doubt, the following wholly owned subsidiaries of the Company have not been placed into administration: 4D Pharma Research Limited, 4D Pharma Cork Limited, 4D Pharma León S.L.U. and 4D Pharma Delaware Incorporated.
The Board intends to work with the Joint Administrators on proposals to rescue the Company as a going concern, albeit there can be no guarantee that this will be successful.
Further announcements will be made as applicable.