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MEI Pharma Inc . (NASDAQ:MEIP) completed a $100 million private placement to fund a treasury strategy focused on Litecoin, making it the first publicly traded company on a national exchange to hold LTC as a primary reserve asset.
The pharmaceutical company sold 29,239,767 shares of common stock at $3.42 per share. Charlie Lee, Litecoin’s creator, led the investment and joined MEI’s board of directors, while Taheer Datoo resigned from the board. GSR, a digital asset market maker, was appointed as the company’s treasury management advisor.
Other investors in the placement included the Litecoin Foundation and cryptocurrency venture capital firms MOZAYYX, ParaFi, Hivemind, Primitive, RLH Capital and Delta Blockchain.
MEI plans to use all net proceeds to acquire Litecoin tokens, which will serve as the company’s primary treasury reserve asset. The company stated this represents a shift from its pharmaceutical operations to a cryptocurrency-focused treasury strategy.
"Litecoin was designed to be fast, secure, and decentralized – and it’s exciting to see those principles now being embraced by a public company like MEI," Lee said in a statement.
GSR’s Josh Riezman said the firm aims to help MEI "unlock the long-term potential of digital assets while managing risk and maintaining flexibility."
Titan Partners Group acted as the sole placement agent for the transaction. The securities were sold in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and applicable exemptions.
MEI Pharma previously operated as a pharmaceutical company with drug candidates including voruciclib, an oral cyclin-dependent kinase 9 inhibitor. The company’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange.