Refinancing for focus

Last December, Philippe Archinard was brought in as CEO to sort out Transgene S.A. by the Merieux family, which owns 70% of the company. At the time, Transgene, which has been around since 1979, was struggling with too many projects in its pipeline, not enough cash to last another year and no visibility to investors. Last week, Archinard unveiled a new business plan and announced his intention to raise E28 million ($33.9 million), which would give Transgene two years of runway.

Transgene (NM:Transgene; TRGNY, Strasbourg, France) plans to raise the money in a private placement of shares and warrants. If the warrants are exercised, the transaction could yield E42 million ($50.9 million). At Dec. 31, 2004, Transgene had just E14.6 million in cash and a 2005 projected burn rate of E20 million. ...