Avacta Group (AIM:AVCT) has conditionally raised gross proceeds of £12.5 million through a placing of 17.41 million new shares and a subscription for 970,587 new shares, both priced at 68p.
The life sciences company, which is developing targeted oncology drugs through its pre|CISION platform, said the issue price represents a discount of approximately 5.6% to the 72p closing mid-market price on 29 September, the last trading day before the capital access window opened.
The placing and subscription shares together represent approximately 3.9% of Avacta's existing issued share capital.
Four non-executive directors took part in the subscription tranche, investing roughly £660,000 in aggregate. Non-Executive Chairman Richard Hughes subscribed £500,000 for 735,294 shares, Non-Executive Deputy Chairman Patrick Vink put in £75,000, Non-Executive Director David Bryant subscribed £50,000 and Non-Executive Director Mats Blom subscribed £35,000.
Chief executive Christina Coughlin said Avacta has made considerable progress through 2026, pointing to its lead Next-Generation pre|CISION candidate AVA6103 moving rapidly from Investigational New Drug approval to the clinic, "with the delivery of the first data showing the controlled-release mechanism is working in patients precisely as intended."
The raise comes months after Avacta completed a £9 million placing in June at 70p a share to repay deferred convertible bond instalments, and a £10 million placing in March that it said extended its cash runway into early 2027 and brought total gross proceeds over the prior eighteen months to approximately £41.5 million.
The company settled a further £3.67 million accelerated amortisation payment on the convertible bond in July after a bondholder acceleration notice, cutting the remaining principal to £16.8 million.
Avacta said AVA6103 achieved clinical proof of mechanism in its Phase 1 FOCUS-01 trial in September, with patients now dosed at dose level four and first efficacy data, including tumour biopsy results, expected in the first half of 2027.
