March 27th 2025
Paris, March 27, 2025 – 7:00 am (CET)
CARMAT (FR0010907956, ALCAR), designer and developer of the world’s most advanced total artificial heart, aiming to provide a therapeutic alternative for people suffering from advanced biventricular heart failure (the “Company” or “CARMAT”), announces the implementation of a flexible equity financing line with IRIS Capital Investment (“IRIS”), for a maximum of 9,000,000 shares (i.e., approximately 15% of its current share capital), over a 24-month period.
Stéphane Piat, Chief Executive Officer of CARMAT, comments: “I am very pleased with the implementation of this financing line with IRIS Capital Investment, which, based on our current share price, provides us with a potential total financing amount of approximately €7.9 million over the next 24 months, and thus offers substantial room for manoeuvre that we can start benefitting from immediately. In parallel, we are actively working on securing additional funding to ensure the long-term development of our Company and our sales growth. Following a strong start this year, we are determined to progressively establish Aeson® as a reference solution for patients suffering from advanced biventricular heart failure — today in Europe, and within a few years in the United States.”
Pursuant to the terms of the agreement signed on March 26, 2025 between the Company and IRIS, the latter has undertaken to subscribe up to 9,000,000 new ordinary shares of the Company, over a 24-month period, at its own initiative and subject to the conditions set out in the appendix to this press release.
The main purpose of this financing is to strengthen CARMAT’s equity and to contribute to the funding of its working capital requirements, particularly to support the development of its sales and the completion of its EFICAS clinical trial in France.
Based on the current share price[1], the Company could receive a total gross amount of €7.9 million should it make full use of this financing line (although this amount is not guaranteed).
The financing line has been structured via the issuance of warrants giving the right to subscribe new ordinary shares of the Company (the “Warrants”), exclusively for the benefit of IRIS[2]. This issuance was decided by the Board of Directors of the Company on March 26, 2025, pursuant to the delegation granted by the combined shareholders’ meeting of the Company held on December 30, 2024, under its 6th resolution, and in accordance with the provisions of Article L. 225-138 of the French Commercial Code. The main characteristics of the Warrants (in particular their exercise conditions) are described in the appendix to this press release.
CARMAT controls the exercise schedule of the Warrants, having the option to suspend, reactivate or terminate this financing agreement at any time without penalty, but also the right to set a maximum number of Warrants that can be exercised over a given period. In addition, the number of new shares issued upon exercise of the Warrants during each calendar quarter cannot exceed 15% of the volume of CARMAT shares traded on the Euronext Growth market of Euronext Paris during that quarter, unless expressly agreed by the Company.
The issuance of the Warrants does not give rise to the publication of a prospectus subject to the approval of the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) nor to the publication of an information document subject to filing with the AMF.
The number of shares issued and admitted to trading under this agreement will be disclosed on the Company’s website.
The flexible equity financing line implemented with IRIS only partially finances CARMAT’s estimated funding needs over the next 12 months, amounting to c. €35 million based on its current business plan. In this context, the Company is actively exploring various additional financing options and is particularly holding discussions with several financial stakeholders which could support it over the long term. However, it should be noted that, to date, there is no guarantee that such discussions will ultimately lead to any financial support for the Company, regardless of the amount, nor that they will materialize before the end of the Company’s current cash runway, i.e. end of May 2025[3].
[1] Closing price on March 26, 2025, i.e., €0.879.
[2] The latter being part of the category defined by the combined shareholders’ meeting of the Company held on December 30, 2024, under its 6th resolution, namely: “natural persons, companies or investment funds, French or foreign, whether shareholders or not of the Company, investing on a regular basis, or having invested more than €1 million over the past 36 months prior to the issue concerned, in the life sciences or technology sectors.”
[3] Cash runway excluding the equity financing line entered into with IRIS, the proceeds of which by the end of May 2025 cannot be determined with certainty.