Cardium merges into publicly traded Aries Ventures, raises $28.5 million in private placement

New York, Oct. 20 - Privately held Cardium Therapeutics, Inc. merged into Aries Ventures Inc. and completed a private placement that raised proceeds of $28.5 million.

The combined company will continue to trade under Aries Ventures' name and "ARVT" ticker symbol until it completes a change of name to Cardium Therapeutics, Inc., a step that requires stockholder approval.

Cardium intends to apply for a listing on the Nasdaq National Market or the American Stock Exchange. The stock currently trades over the counter.

"Today's announcement represents a substantial milestone for our stockholders, and sets the stage for us to pursue our business plan aggressively with substantial capital resources," said Christopher J. Reinhard, chairman and chief executive officer of Cardium, in a news release.

"With the proceeds from this equity offering, we have acquired a portfolio of cardiovascular growth factor therapeutics from Schering AG Germany, and we can now move forward to advance the leadership position of our later-stage product candidate, Generx, a DNA-based cardiovascular biologic designed for the treatment of patients with recurrent angina due to coronary artery disease."

Ahead of the merger, Aries paid a dividend of $0.43 per share to holders of its two million shares. The remaining $1.5 million of cash was retained.

Under the private placement, the combined company received more than $28.5 million from the sale of stock at $1.50 per share. Following the merger and private placement, the company has 29.2 million shares outstanding.

Cardium, based in San Diego, is focused on interventional cardiology and the development and commercialization of DNA-based, myocardial-derived, growth factor therapeutics which are being designed as treatments for coronary artery disease and/or heart attack.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.