Formula Pharmaceuticals, a US immuno-oncology focused company announced the acquisition of worldwide exclusive rights to an immunotherapy platform that was developed over the past seven years at the Research Center Fondazione M. Tettamanti, a University of Italy’s Milano-Bicocca affiliate.
The exclusive license coincides with the completion of a private investment transaction, facilitated by placement agent, Banca Esperia spa (the private bank owned by Mediolanum and Medionbanca groups) and with financial advice from IMS Health Capital. While the Foundation has been supported by Studio Pavia e Ansaldo law firm.
More in detail, banca Esperia organized a club deal among its most wealthy private banking clients who subscribed a bond structured as a mandatory convertible bond, which means that under certain conditions such as special investments needs or listing at the Stock Exchange, the bond will automatically convert into equity.
This is a structure that Banca Esperia already experimented in October 2014 for financing the growth of CreditAccess Asia, former Microventures, an Italian company focused on issuing microcredit to artisans and SMEs and on investing in SME’s equity in South East Asia and India.
In that deal Banca Esperia gathered clients who subscribed a 40 million euros bond which was called “Ipo Incentive bond”. Half of the issue was structured as a mandatory convertible bond that is converting into equity at the time of a future listing of the company on the Stock Exchange. The remaining hald of the issue is a traditional convertible bond.
Banca Esperia organized club deal among its clients also in the structure of equity investments. For example the bank recently organized a capital increase for Italy-based biotech startup Genenta Science. Thanks to Esperia’s clients, the company raised 3.8 million euros in March from investors just after having raised 6.2 million euros at the end of January reaching a total of 10 millions in this first funding round.
Before that the private bank partecipated to two rounds of funding in PrivateGriffe, an internet web marketplace where people may buy and sell second hand items by fashion brands, secured its second financing round in a year.
