Funds to be used for Convertible Bond repayments
LONDON and PHILADELPHIA – June 5, 2026 – Avacta Therapeutics (AIM: AVCT, the “Company“, the “Group”, “Avacta“), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing pre|CISION®, a tumor-activated oncology delivery platform, is pleased to announce that it has raised gross proceeds of approximately £9 million from institutional investors and existing shareholders, with one institutional cornerstone investor representing the majority of the funds.
The Company has conditionally placed 12,792,859 new ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) (the “Placing Shares“) at a price of 70 pence per share (the “Issue Price“), being the closing mid-market price on the day immediately prior to this Announcement, raising approximately £9 million (the “Placing”).
Christina Coughlin, CEO of Avacta commented:
“This Placing enables Avacta to retain the value of our equity while further reinforcing our financial position by reducing the outstanding debt in the Convertible Bond. Our cash runway provides sufficient funding to progress both clinical drug candidates from our industry-leading pre|CISION® technology through major clinical milestones and to move our Gen Three molecule into IND-enabling studies.
“The initial clinical data on the Gen Two program AVA6103 in late H2 2026, as well as further Phase 1 data on Gen One AVA6000 later this month at the BIO International Convention, mark key milestones for the Company, as we expect that these data will provide validation of our pre|CISION® technology in patients, by demonstrating that both our First and Second Gen molecules can effectively treat human cancers.. In parallel, we continue to advance our partnering discussions, which are ongoing with multiple parties, on all three generations of our pre|CISION® platform.”
Director Subscriptions
In addition to the Placing, Christina Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta, and Mark Goldberg, a Non-Executive Director of the Company, have subscribed for 32,142 new Ordinary Shares each, (the “Subscription Shares”) at the Issue Price, representing an investment of approximately £22,500 each (the “Subscription”).
Background to and strategic rationale of the Equity Fundraise
As announced on 29 August 2025 in the Company’s announcement titled “Amendments to the Convertible Bond and equity fundraise of £3.25 million”, the Company renegotiated the terms of its Convertible Bond with the Convertible Bond holder. The Amendments included the following:
- Quarterly Convertible Bond repayments and interest in respect of 20 January 2026 and 20 April 2026 payment dates were deferred until 20 October 2027 (together, the “Deferred Repayments”);
- Upon the earlier of (i) the date on which the Company publishes the data readouts of its Phase 1b trials of FAP-Dox (AVA6000) in triple negative breast cancer and (ii) 30 June 2026, the Bondholder will have the right to accelerate the satisfaction (in cash or shares) of one or both of the Deferred Repayments and in addition, from 1 October 2026, at any time accelerate the satisfaction of the quarterly repayments on the Convertible Bond, subject to a maximum of one acceleration per quarter.
Under the terms of the Amendments, if the Deferred Repayments were to be accelerated by the Convertible Bond Holder, the Company could elect to pay in cash or via the issue of new Ordinary Shares at the predetermined reference price (based on prevailing VWAPs) for 20 January 2026 and 20 April 2026.
The lowest electable reference prices for the 20 January 2026 and 20 April 2026 would be approximately 48.75 pence and 64.65 pence respectively.
The Company has chosen to strategically accept new investment into the business at the Issue Price of 70 pence, significantly higher than the potential share-based payment prices, thereby resulting in a reduction in potential shareholder dilution whilst strengthening the Company’s balance sheet.
The net proceeds of the Placing will allow the Company to pay the Deferred Repayments in cash and, in addition, pay an additional quarterly payment in cash if required.
This Placing has allowed Avacta to have an enhanced balance sheet, and should the Deferred Repayments be accelerated and an additional quarterly repayment be paid in cash, the Convertible Bond would be reduced to approximately £11.5 million, which represents approximately 3.6 per cent of the market capitalisation of the Company immediately prior to this Announcement.