WUXI, China
Boyalife Investment Inc. and Boyalife (Hong Kong) Limited (collectively, “Boyalife”), as the majority shareholders of Cesca Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: KOOL) (the “Company), an autologous cell-based regenerative medicine company, provided the Company with written notice removing Mr. Craig W. Moore, Mr. Mark Bagnall and Mr. Robin Stracey from the board of directors of the Company, effective November 3, 2016.
Prior to the removal of Mr. Moore, Mr. Bagnall and Mr. Stracey, the board of directors of the Company unanimously nominated and appointed Jim Xu to the board of directors of the Company. After the removal of the three directors, and in accordance with a voting agreement between the Company and Boyalife, Boyalife took further action to appoint Vivian Liu as an independent director to the board of directors of the Company, effective immediately on November 3, 2016. The board of directors then nominated and unanimously appointed Dr. Xiaochun (Chris) Xu as the new Chairman of the board of directors of the Company.
In addition, the board of directors of the Company removed Mr. Robin Stracey as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and appointed Dr. Xu as the interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately on November 3, 2016. The Company is commencing a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and for two additional independent directors, which it is seeking to appoint as promptly as practicable.
Dr. Xiaochun (Chris) Xu, the newly appointed Chairman of Board and Interim CEO states, “Cesca needs to position itself to be a leader in the fast growing regenerative medicine field. In order to do so, a company has to have global vision and a sharp sense of the market trends. We are looking forward to moving more aggressively into the global market to grow the Company into a global player.”
Cesca Therapeutics previously converted a senior secured three year convertible debenture of $12.5 million of principal and $8.25 million of interest into 6,102,941 shares of its common stock, in accordance with the previously announced purchase agreement entered into between Cesca Therapeutics and Boyalife, dated February 2, 2016. As a result of the conversion, Boyalife’s total ownership of the Company increased to 6,838,235 shares, or approximately 70% of shares outstanding.
Boyalife believes that the newly appointed directors provide the Company with the expertise it requires in order to achieve its growth and development plans, as well as puts the Company in a better position for future investments. In addition, Boyalife agrees with the board of directors’ decision to remove Robin Stracey as CEO and appoint Dr. Xu as interim CEO until the process to identify a permanent CEO replacement can be completed. Boyalife reiterates its strong commitment to the Company and its expanding business. Details of the changes to management and the board of directors are as follows:
Dr. Xu (45), is the Founder and Chairman of Boyalife Group, and currently serves on Cesca Therapeutics board of directors. He received his Ph.D. degree in Immunology from Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, USA) and an Executive MBA degree from Emory University (Atlanta, USA). Dr. Xu has over 15 years of managerial experience in biomedicine and the pharmaceutical industry and has been involved in the discovery and development of several successful drugs. Since 2000 he served as a Project Leader at Pfizer, as a Director of Research at two publicly-traded companies and as a Vice President at Founder Group, a major Chinese technology conglomerate with interests in information technology, healthcare, real estate, finance, and commodities trading. Dr. Xu has served as Founder and Chairman of Boyalife Group since 2009.
Ms. Liu has over 20 years of experience in senior management and board of director positions in both public and private biotechnology companies. Ms. Liu is currently a partner at OxOnc Development LP, where she manages the company’s corporate and financial activities as well as its co-development agreements with Pfizer. In addition, Ms. Liu currently serves on the board of directors at Innovus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where prior to serving on the board she served as President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining OxOnc Development and Innovus Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Liu Co-founded Apricus Biosciences, Inc., a NASDAQ traded company, and served in numerous capacities, including Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. James Xu (45), is a practicing attorney and licensed CPA with over 18 years of experience in corporate operation strategy and litigation, including patent prosecution, intellectual property licensing, corporate strategic planning, restructuring and mergers & acquisition. Mr. Xu has been the General Counsel of Boyalife since 2010. Mr. Xu received a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Mississippi as well as a J.D., LLM from DePaul Law School, and LLM from John Marshall Law School.
“Both Vivian and James offer broad experience and leadership in corporate governance and international markets. Together with existing board members of Dr. Mahendra Rao, Dr. Xu and Mr. Michael Rhein, the new board represents a balanced mix of global experiences that shall be of tremendous value to the Company,” Interim CEO, Dr. Xu said.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161104005784/en/
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IR E-mail: li.lin@boyalife.com
