MDS Proteomics Announces Completion of Financial Reorganization and Name Change to Protana Inc.
30 Juli 2004 - 12:31AM
PR Newswire (US)
MDS Proteomics Announces Completion of Financial Reorganization and
Name Change to Protana Inc. TORONTO, July 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- MDS Proteomics today announced that it has completed its
financial reorganization, substantially in accordance with its
announcement of June 1, 2004. The reorganization was carried out
pursuant to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA") and
the Canada Business Corporations Act ("CBCA"). The company's CCAA
Plan of Compromise and Arrangement has been unanimously approved by
the company's affected creditors and such Plan, and the company's
CBCA Arrangement and Reorganization, have been sanctioned by the
Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The following has occurred in
connection with the reorganization: - The operations of the company
have been merged with those of OptiMol, previously 50% owned by MDS
Proteomics, that provides high value early stage drug development
capabilities to its pharmaceutical and biotech partners; - All
existing funded debt has been converted to equity; - The
accumulated tax losses of the company have been sold to MDS Inc.
for $5 million; - The reorganized company has entered into a five
year technology license agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of
MDS Inc. for minimum guaranteed revenues of $10 million; and - The
reorganized company will have a business model based upon the
provision of services to third parties in the three areas of
protein identification and analysis, lead optimization and
biomarkers discovery. Following completion of the reorganization,
the company will have cash on hand and committed cash of
approximately $25 million. In addition, the reorganized company has
negotiated a lease financing arrangement for $5 million that it
anticipates closing shortly. Given the expected quarterly net cash
burn rate of $2.5 - 3.0 million, the reorganized company is
expected to have sufficient resources to achieve cash flow
breakeven. In order to better reflect the new business model and
the operational plan, the reorganized company has been named
"Protana Inc.". This name reflects the fact that the reorganized
company will have a much broader focus than proteomics based
discovery research. Protana will be working in areas that encompass
genomics, proteomics, clinical settings as well as lab services,
and will span drug discovery to late stage work. "With the
reorganization behind us, we can now focus on our new business
model and the significant opportunities that this market holds,"
said Anil Amlani, Executive Vice-President. "We have the
management, technology, expertise and, most importantly, the
employees, that will allow us to offer our customers value added
services and execute on our new business model." Forward-Looking
Statements This document contains forward-looking statements. Some
forward looking statements may be identified by words like
"expects", "anticipates", "plans", "intends", "indicates" or
similar expressions. The statements are not a guarantee of future
performance and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties.
The company's actual results could differ materially from those
currently anticipated due to a number of factors, including, but
not limited to, technology development issues, the competitive
environment for the company's products, the degree of market
penetration of the company's products, as well as other factors not
contained herein. About Protana Inc. Protana offers an integrated
platform of superior and ultra-sensitive technologies - protein
identification, protein interaction mapping, differential analysis,
phosphoprofiling, chemical proteomics, lead optimization and
insilico drug design - that can be applied across the entire
spectrum of drug discovery and development process. Protana's
dynamic combination of world-class experts and sophisticated
technology will ultimately provide the global health sciences
community - and patients throughout the world - with leading-edge
solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Protana is a
private company. For more information on Protana, visit the
company's website at http://www.protana.com/ DATASOURCE: MDS
Proteomics Inc. CONTACT: Mr. Anil Amlani, Executive Vice-President,
Protana Inc., (416) 646-6351 or
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