Financings In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
WorldHeart seeks to raise $30 million in stock sale: Cash-strapped maker of implantable ventricular assist devices plans to raise at least $30 million through the sale of 300 million shares of common stock by July 31 to fund continued operations, the firm says. Announced June 23, WorldHeart's planned stock sale will include investments of $10 million from venture capital firm Venrock, $9 million from private equity fund Special Situations, and other investments for which discussions are ongoing. The move is part of a broader recapitalization effort by WorldHeart that includes a $1 million bridge loan from Venrock and Special Situations, and conversion of a previous $5 million loan from Abiomed into 86 million shares of WorldHeart stock (1"The Gray Sheet" Dec. 17, 2007, p. 12). The Oakland, Calif., firm announced last month that it had only $500,000 in cash on hand and faced the possibility of bankruptcy without additional funding. In the first quarter, WorldHeart lost $11.5 million on sales of $635,996