Shares of Spanish biotechnology firm Oryzon Genomics fell about 11% on Wednesday following the announcement of an accelerated private placement intended to raise up to €10 million. The company said the amount could be increased to €15 million depending on investor demand. Oryzon framed the move as a measure to shore up its balance sheet and to accelerate work on its acute myeloid leukemia programme.
The company said its board had approved a capital increase that will be executed through issuance of new ordinary shares with pre-emptive subscription rights explicitly excluded. The placement is being carried out privately within the European Economic Area and is being managed by Singular Bank and Invest Securities.
Oryzon reiterated that proceeds from the placement will be directed to strengthen its financial position and to provide additional resources to advance its acute myeloid leukemia clinical programme.
In a separate financing development, Oryzon disclosed a share subscription agreement with Spain’s Social Impact Fund (FIS), which is managed by the development finance company COFIDES. Under the agreement, FIS has committed to subscribe for €25 million of newly issued shares in a future capital increase, subject to a set of conditions.
The agreement specifies that the FIS commitment applies to any eligible future capital increase undertaken within six months of signing the subscription agreement, a window that may be extended if both parties agree. The company noted that the contemplated investment is conditional and will proceed only if those conditions are satisfied.
Should the FIS investment materialize, Oryzon said the funds would be allocated to research and development across several therapeutic areas, including central nervous system disorders, oncology and hematology. The company further committed that at least 40% of those proceeds would be used to develop treatments targeting unmet needs in mental health, with an explicit mention of its borderline personality disorder programme and other psychiatric indications.
In corporate governance developments, the board unanimously agreed to propose an amendment to the company’s corporate purpose at the next shareholders’ meeting. The proposed change would explicitly state that Oryzon’s purpose is to improve quality of life through the development of medicines for unmet needs in mental health, cancer and other serious diseases. The company said that any amendment to the corporate purpose would require approval by a 75% majority vote.
The company also provided timing for the accelerated placement: the capital increase is expected to be paid up before the market opens on July 2, with the new shares admitted to trading that day and scheduled to begin trading on July 3.
Contextual note - The company has described the placement and the conditional FIS commitment as separate but complementary elements of its financing plan. The immediate private placement is positioned as a near-term liquidity and programme-acceleration measure, while the FIS agreement represents a conditional, larger-scale capital injection that would support broader R&D priorities if it proceeds.