NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Platinum-Montaur Life Sciences LLC (Montaur), a New York-based investment fund, today announced that it has exercised Series W warrants to purchase 6 million shares of common stock in Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: NAVB). The warrants were originally issued in December 2007 as a part of Montaur’s original investment in Navidea.
Montaur also wishes to correct an inaccuracy regarding its investment in Navidea that was contained in an article posted earlier today on the Seeking Alpha investor website. The article indicated that Montaur had sold 3 million shares of common stock of Navidea on November 27, 2012. In fact, Montaur converted the 3 million shares of common stock back into shares of Preferred Stock of Navidea, paving the way for Montaur to exercise the Series W warrants. On a fully diluted basis, Montaur continues to hold a position that represents over 42 million shares of Navidea common stock.
“We continue to be very supportive of Navidea and its management team,” said Michael M. Goldberg, M.D., Montaur’s portfolio manager. “We recently funded the first $2 million of an overall $50 million debt-based facility we have in place to ensure that Navidea remains well-funded through the launch of its Lymphoseek product. Our continued funding is designed to ensure that Navidea has the resources to continue its ongoing development of its pipeline products while making certain it is fully prepared to launch Lymphoseek as soon as it is approved. We are confident that Lymphoseek will be rapidly adopted by the medical community as soon as it is approved by the FDA as we believe it provides a clear benefit to patients. We remain optimistic about Navidea’s recent progress and look forward to the continuing development of their exciting pipeline of precision diagnostic agents.”