Conduit Pharmaceuticals And Murphy Canyon Acquisition Corp. Announce Completion Of Business Combination
Conduit Pharmaceuticals Limited ("Conduit Pharmaceuticals"), a multi-asset clinical-stage disease-agnostic life science company providing an efficient model for compound development, and Murphy Canyon Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (NASDAQ:MURF) ("MURF"), announced today the completion of the previously announced business combination (the "Transaction").
- Conduit expects to commence trading on September 25, 2023, under ticker symbol "CDT" for its common stock on The Nasdaq Global Market and ticker symbol "CDTTW" for its warrants on The Nasdaq Capital Market.
- At the debut of trading, there will be a pro forma enterprise value of approximately $720 million. Existing Conduit Pharmaceuticals shareholders will own approximately 90% of the combined company's common stock issued and outstanding as of the closing.
- Immediately prior to completion of the Transaction, MURF closed the previously announced investment by a single institutional investor, which purchased $20.0 million of MURF's units at a price of $10.00 per unit in a private placement. Each unit consisted of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock (the "Offering"). The warrants have an exercise price of $11.50, are exercisable after 30 days after the completion of the business combination and expire five years after the completion of the Transaction. Together, the Transaction and the Offering, provide Conduit with approximately $20 million, after giving effect to Murphy Canyon stockholder redemptions and before payment of Transaction and Offering expenses.
- The Transaction was completed on September 22, 2023
In connection with the completion of the Transaction, MURF changed its name to Conduit Pharmaceuticals Inc. The shares of common stock of the combined company ("Conduit") are expected to begin trading on September 25, 2023, under the new ticker symbol "CDT" on The Nasdaq Global Market and the warrants under the new ticker symbol "CDTTW" on The Nasdaq Capital Market.
Management
Conduit Pharmaceuticals is led by a team of pharmaceutical industry veterans. Dr. Dave Tapolczay, former CEO of LifeArc and Worldwide Head of Chemistry at Zeneca Agrochemicals, is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall, former Chief Medical Officer of Pfizer, serves as Non-Executive Chair of the Board of Directors.
Dr. Tapolczay commented, "By acquiring rights to develop assets that have successfully completed Phase 1 trials from large pharmaceutical companies, we believe that we may dramatically reduce risks inherent in the traditional biotech model."
Dr. Lewis-Hall added, "Conduit's model positions it as a trailblazer in the industry: providing a platform to move deprioritized assets forward by way of a lean and focused pathway. I am excited about Conduit's potential to bring new treatments to patients that need them."
Jack Heilbron, the former Chairman and CEO of MURF, noted, "We continue to be impressed with Conduit's management team, and its plans as a public company. We expect that their novel approach to development of deprioritized assets will bring many new growth opportunities."
Advisors
A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Conduit Pharmaceuticals in connection with the Transaction and as the sole placement agent to MURF in connection with the Offering. Sichenzia Ross Ference LLP acted as legal counsel to MURF. Thompson Hine LLP and Ogier (Cayman) LLP acted as legal counsel to Conduit Pharmaceuticals.