A Medical Device Daily
RiverVest Venture Partners (St. Louis) reported completing the fundraising for its second fund, RiverVest Venture Fund II, with total capital of $75 million committed from private investors.
RiverVest's first fund, licensed as a Small Business Investment Company, had total private capital of $45 million, plus one tier of leverage from the Small Business Administration.
Out of 16 investments in RiverVest's Fund I, half were sourced in the Midwest, including three in St. Louis. "This strategy is appealing to institutional investors, who don't like narrow geographic limits but do like the attractive valuations available in the Midwest," said Jay Schmelter, a RiverVest co-founder and managing director.
RiverVest's Fund I portfolio currently includes 10 active companies: Five in medical devices, three in biopharmaceuticals, one in specialty pharmaceuticals, and one in healthcare services. Eight of these are fully funded to profitability or an exit, RiverVest said.
It said that Fund II will pursue the same investment strategy as Fund I, with a focus on early-stage medical device and biopharmaceutical opportunities.
The Fund II portfolio currently includes six active companies, three of which were co- founded by RiverVest.
In addition to closing on Fund II, RiverVest reported that John McKearn, PhD, has joined the firm as Venture Partner.
In other financing news:
• North American Scientific (NAS; Chatsworth, California) reported receiving a notice from Nasdaq indicating that the 180 calendar day compliance period granted to the company ended on April 2, and that it failed to regain compliance with the minimum $1 bid price per share requirement for continued listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Additionally, the notice said that the company is not eligible for an additional 180 calendar day compliance period since it does not meet the initial inclusion criteria of $15 million market value of publicly held shares. Therefore, the company's common stock is subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Capital Market at the opening of business on April 15.
The company said it plans to file an appeal which will include a plan to implement a one-for-five share reverse stock split. The split was already approved by the company's board back in February, it said.
The company has until today to appeal Nasdaq's determination to delist its common stock to a Nadaq Listing Qualifications Panel, which, if granted, will stay the delisting pending the panel's decision.
NAS provides radiation therapy products for treating cancer. Its products, Prospera brachytherapy seeds and SurTRAK needles and strands, are used primarily in the treatment of prostate cancer. In addition the company said it plans to commercialize its ClearPath multi-channel catheter breast brachytherapy devices.
• Almost Family (Louisville, Kentucky) reported the pricing of 2.25 million common shares at a public offering price of $17.75 per share.
In connection with the public offering, the underwriter has been granted an option to purchase up to 337,500 additional shares to cover any over-allotments. The offering is expected to close on April 16.
The net proceeds from the public offering will be about $37,340,950, which the company said it intends to use to repay indebtedness and for other general corporate purposes, including possible future acquisitions.
Jefferies & Co. acted as manager and underwriter of the public offering.
Almost Family is a regional provider of home health nursing services, with branches in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, Alabama, Illinois and Indiana.