Ananda Developments
The Aquis Stock Exchange-listed CBD life sciences company announced this week that it has successfully raised £2.1m through a new subscription of shares.
Ananda, which is currently involved in two UK Phase II clinical trials into the effectiveness of its proprietary CBD formulation, MRX1, in the treatment of Endometriosis and Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN), secured gross proceeds of £2,145,861.
The fundraise was supported by both new and existing shareholders, with the company’s Chairman and long-time financier Charles Morgan supplying the bulk (£2.04m) of the investment, purchasing shares at a price of 0.3p.
Alongside this, Ananda announced plans to launch a retail offering on the Winterflood Retail Access Platform (WRAP) to allow existing shareholders to purchase additional shares, expected to raise a further £100,000.
According to the company, these funds will be used to continue the production of its flagship compound, MRX1, and help fund a further pharmacokinetic study of MRX1 in Australia.
It also says the funds will be used to continue discussions with UK regulatory bodies like the MHRA, NICE and the NHS as it prepares for future clinical trials.
Subject to shareholder approval, Ananda’s directors have also chosen to capitalise unsecured debts owed to them by the company, meaning they are converting the amount the company owes them into equity in the company, instead of receiving repayment in cash.
The debt owed to Charles Morgan stands at £1,898,832, while Melissa Sturgess is owed £10,096. If the debt capitalisation is approved, 636,309,333 ordinary shares will be issued, with Mr Morgan receiving 632,944,000 shares, bringing his total shareholding to 57.43% of the company’s enlarged share capital. Ms Sturgess will hold 9.94% following the issuance of 3,365,333 shares.
As part of its Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI), Ananda has issued a further 256,666,666 options over ordinary shares to its directors, key personnel, and consultants, which will vest over the next three years.
“This significant equity investment from the Chairman and other investors places us in a very strong position to progress our clinical trials and achieve key value accretive milestones. We remain committed to advancing our MRX1 drug candidate through the trials, obtaining licenses, and eventually getting it into NHS and other licensed drug markets,” Ms Sturgess commented.
Celadon Pharmaceuticals
Celadon Pharmaceuticals announced this week that it has now successfully raised £1.05 million through a placing of 2,625,000 new ordinary shares, just weeks after announcing that it has been forced to weather numerous delays in funding.
In mid-August, Business of Cannabis reported that it was now managing a precarious cash position, with just £48,000 in liquidity as of August 09, 2024.
Despite reporting ongoing shipments of product to clients as part of multi-million pound supply agreements, Celadon said that payment from two separate sources of credit had been delayed, forcing it to ‘manage its cash position’ even more tightly.
In a reprieve for the company and its investors, Celadon has now raised new funding through the placing of 2,625,000 new shares at a price of 40p per share, representing a 23.8% discount on the previous day’s closing price.
Global Investment Strategy UK Limited facilitated the placing and will receive a cash fee as well as warrants over 131,250 new ordinary shares, exercisable until 10 September 2027 at the placing price of 40 pence per share.
The company says that it launched the fundraise to ensure it had sufficient cash for short-term requirements, but that it remained in discussions with the two other lenders who have reconfirmed their intention to pay the committed funding.
However, the board noted that the delayed timeframe for these payments ‘raises uncertainty that the funds will be received at all.’
Following its latest fundraise, the company’s cash position has improved significantly and now stands at £1,046,000, enough, it says, to see it through to December.
“Celadon is grateful to the investors who have participated in the fundraising and to the Subscriber and lender for their re-confirmed commitments to the Company. The Group’s ongoing conversations with alternative potential lenders continue with a view to securing the long-term future for the business,” Celadon’s CEO James Short said.
Meanwhile, the company announced that it has now entered into a strategic partnership with Valeos to Boost High-THC Medical Cannabis Supply, a deal the company says will ‘significantly accelerate Celadon’s production and supply’ of medical cannabis to Europe.
The new partnership will see Celadon licence its proprietary genetics to Veleos, which will then produce pharmaceutical-grade Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) on its behalf, increasing production capacity by 100%, allowing Celadon to cultivate 3 tonnes a year, potentially generating up to £30m a year.
Celadon will recieve 50% of the profits from Valeos’ facility, worth a potential £1.7m a year, and will have the option to choose cash or equity as compensation.
It will also enable Celadon to establish a subsidiary in Denmark, easing its access to the flourishing mainland European market.
Production is due to begin in Q1 2025, subject to attaining the necessary import and export licences.
Chill Brands
CBD and vaping brand Chill Brands has announced that cannabis industry veteran, former Chill Brands director and founder of Voyager Life, Nick Tulloch, will be joining the company as a Non-Executive Director.
In an update to investors last week, the company welcomed Mr Tulloch to its board of directors while announcing its upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 30.
Mr Tulloch was credited with overseeing the transition of Chill Brands from an oil company into a CBD focused operation.
He remains the CEO of Voyager Life, which recently announced plans to exit the CBD market amid numerous failed takeover deals over the past few months, most recently with embattled UK medical cannabis cultivator Northern Leaf.
Its two failed acquisition deals over the space of two months would have significantly expanded the company’s foothold in the industry, seeing the newly expanded company valued at £5m.
According a trading update in June, the last-minute cancellation of a deal with Northern Leaf had taken its toll on Voyager’s financial position.
With this significant drop in value preventing it from pursuing an additional fundraise and the failed deal meaning no working capital is available to ‘acquire additional equipment for its manufacturing division’, the company quickly ‘identified a new merger partner’, seeing it move into the helium space.
Meanwhile, Chill Brands is enduring its own difficulties, stipulating during its most recent announcement that due to ongoing delays in preparing the company’s annual report and audited accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2024, certain resolutions related to the report will be adjourned and that its upcoming AGM will be reconvened once the annual report is finalised.
It comes just over a month after the company launched legal action in the US against its two former directors, who are accused of transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company into their own accounts.
In late July, the company confirmed that its lawyers had taken action aimed at regaining control of intellectual property, including the chill.com domain and other trademarks which its former directors Antonio Russo and Trevor Taylor transferred to Chill North America, owned by Mr Russo.
