NEW YORK – OpGen's share price surged on Thursday after the company announced it would raise $1.0 million in a private placement.
The Rockville, Maryland-based molecular diagnostic developer filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that said it would sell 1,000 shares of its Series D preferred stock at $1,000 per share to an unnamed investor. The news caused its stock price to rise more than 400 percent to $1.84 as of Thursday afternoon. The offering is linked to negotiations with the investor about a possible strategic transaction, and OpGen said it intends to use the proceeds to fund its operations while it pursues the transaction.
The offering is expected to close on or about Oct. 13.
In a separate document filed with the SEC, OpGen said that its subsidiary Curetis received an advance payment of €750,000 ($792,000) from the sale of multiple Unyvero A50 PCR-based molecular diagnostic systems to a strategic partner. The purchase is related to the negotiation of a possible strategic transaction involving Curetis and its subsidiary Ares Genetics, and the advance payment will be used to fund the subsidiaries' operations while it negotiates. That partner may buy additional Unyvero A50 instruments, the company added.