Through merger with Healthcare Acquisition, company will own 52% of its shares.
PharmAthene will become a public company under a merger agreement with Healthcare Acquisition (HAQ). The new company will be named PharmAthene, Inc. and is expected to trade on the American Stock Exchange.
“A merger with HAQ provides a strong financial foundation with enhanced access to capital and will further PharmAthene’s strategy of taking a leadership position in biodefense to help meet the urgent biosecurity needs of the U.S. and its allies,” says David P. Wright who is currently president and CEO of privately owned PharmAthene and will remain president and CEO of the new company.
Under the terms of the agreement, PharmAthene will own at least 52% of HAQ’s outstanding basic shares through the acquisition of 12.5 million new HAQ shares. Healthcare has until August 3 to complete the deal before it would be required to liquidate.
The company will be headquartered in Annapolis, MD, with R&D facilities in Montreal. Healthcare Acquisition expects to have up to approximately $70 million in cash before payment of expenses at closing, which will remain in the merged company and be available to finance product development, clinical trials, R&D, potential product and technology acquisitions, and for general corporate purposes.
Commenting on the company’s strategy and goals, Wright states, “we are seeking to apply the classic defense contractor model of developing multiple government customers—Defense, Homeland Security, state and regional authorities—and then adapting our products for wider commercial use. Biodefense products should be available to all levels of government, large venues, commercial offices, hotels, hospitals and even to individual consumers, and we intend initially to develop and commercialize products for all of these markets while evaluating dual-use applications for our products within broader commercial markets.”
