CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) announced today that it has entered
into a growth capital credit facility and a revolving line of credit
with Comerica Bank. The combined facility provides Cerus with an initial
four-year, $5 million term loan which funded on September 30th.
An additional $5 million may be drawn under the combined facility in the
form of a term loan and/or a formula-based revolving line of credit
based on the company’s trade receivables. The additional term loan is
available between December 31, 2011 and June 30, 2012 in an amount of up
to $3 million. The balance of the additional $5 million is available
under the revolving line of credit until September 30, 2013. A portion
of the initial $5 million term loan was used to repay the company’s
existing credit facility.
“This transaction replaces our existing credit facility with one that is
more flexible, less costly, and provides room for growth,” said Kevin D.
Green, vice president of finance for Cerus Corporation. “The Comerica
facility provides us with non-dilutive capital to continue growing the
INTERCEPT business.”
Brian Demmert, Senior Vice President at Comerica, stated: “Comerica is
excited to partner with Cerus as it prides itself on providing capital
to companies like Cerus with strong management teams and innovative
technologies.”
About Cerus
Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused on
commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. The
INTERCEPT system is designed to reduce the risk of
transfusion-transmitted diseases by inactivating a broad range of
pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and parasites that may be present in
donated blood. The nucleic acid targeting mechanism of action enables
INTERCEPT treatment to inactivate established transfusion threats, such
as hepatitis B and C, HIV, West Nile virus and bacteria, and is designed
to inactivate emerging pathogens such as influenza, malaria and dengue.
Cerus currently markets and sells the INTERCEPT Blood System for both
platelets and plasma in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and selected
countries in other regions around the world. The INTERCEPT red blood
cell system is in clinical development. See http://www.cerus.com
for more information.
INTERCEPT and the INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus
Corporation.
About Comerica Bank’s Technology and Life Sciences Division
Comerica Bank’s Technology and Life Sciences Division is one of the
nation's leading technology banking practices, offering a wide range of
financial services tailored to corporate customers, entrepreneurs and
professionals. Veteran bankers provide credit and financial services and
products to young, growing, professionally backed technology and life
sciences companies, as well as their more mature counterparts. The
Technology and Life Sciences Division serves all major U.S. technology
centers from offices coast-to-coast and its headquarters in Palo Alto,
Calif. Comerica Bank is a subsidiary of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA
- News),
a financial services company that is among the 20 largest U.S. banking
companies. For more information, visit www.comerica.com.
Cerus Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Any
statements contained in this press release that are not statements of
historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements,
including, without limitation, statements relating to potential draws
against and continued availability of the credit facility and statements
relating to INTERCEPT growth. Actual results could differ
materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of certain
factors, including, without limitation, risks associated with the
commercialization and market acceptance of the INTERCEPT Blood System,
the sufficiency of Cerus’ cash resources, including the continued
availability of the revolving credit facility, as well as other risks
detailed in Cerus’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including Cerus’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
June 30, 2011. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of
this press release. Cerus does not undertake any obligation to
update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information,
future events, changed assumptions or otherwise.
Source: Cerus Corporation