Avexa ready for market, says Amrad

Amrad (ASX:AML) spin-out Avexa is ready to list following shareholder approval of the demerger and the granting of Federal Court approval of the scheme of arrangement.

But the market has reacted negatively to the announcement -- at the time of writing, the share price had dropped more than 20 per cent to AUD$0.45.

The new company, which will take Amrad's anti-infectives programs with it, is expected to list on the ASX around September 23.

"I believe that at this stage the sequence of events [to listing] is just a formality," said Amrad chairman Bob Moses.

The company also announced key appointments for Avexa. Dr Hugh Niall, former CEO of Biota and current CEO of the National Stem Cell Centre, has been appointed chairman of Avexa's board of directors, while Dr Julian Chick, a senior member of the Amrad business development team, will move to the new company as CEO.

Chick holds a PhD in physiology from La Trobe and Oxford Universities and has had experience in the capital markets through roles at Salomon Smith Barney and BNP Paribas Australia. Prior to joining Amrad's business development team, he worked at Foursight Associates, a biotech consultancy hired by Amrad in the past.

"Julian has a deep understanding of the science behind Avexa's activities mixed with a keen commercial focus and an understanding of capital markets and the drivers behind increasing shareholder value," said Amrad CEO Pete Smith. "Julian has been an important part of the senior management team driving the spin-out of Avexa and we are thrilled to offer him this position in the face of some very keen competition."

Moses told Australian Biotechnology News that Chick was chosen after an extensive international search for the position. "His credentials had to stand up to that," he said.

Amrad's CSO, Jonathan Coates, will also join the new company in the same role, while back at Amrad, former head of biologicals research Andrew Nash will step into his shoes.

While Amrad will hold a 19.9 per cent stake in Avexa, which for the time being will occupy its own space on the Amrad campus, Moses said the spin-out would be totally independent of the company that birthed it.

"Avexa will be left to establish its own identity and follow its own path," he said.