Benzinga | Jun 7, 2021 03:14PM EDT

Shares of 22nd Century Group's Cannabis Research Co. Slightly Up On $40M Registered Direct Offering With Cowen and Company

Plant-based biotech company 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE AMEX: XXII) announced Monday it will raise $40 million via a registered direct offering with one institutional investor.

The Buffalo, New York-based company involved in cannabis and hemp research agreed to sell 10 million common shares with a price of $4.00 per share. The only placement agent for the offering was Cowen and Company, LLC, while The Special Equities Group, a division of Dawson James Securities Inc. is serving as financial advisor for this offering.

The financing is projected to be completed around June 9, upon obtaining the necessary closing requirements.

22nd Century Group plans to use the collected net proceeds from the offering to finance its strategic actions across all its plant franchises, in order to cover research and development costs, capital expenditures, development of new intellectual property rights and other standard corporate activities.

"As a result of this important straight common equity financing with one of our long-term institutional investors, 22nd Century will be able to accelerate the Company's ongoing strategic objectives across all of our plant franchises," James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century Group, said.

The company is involved in both the tobacco and cannabis industry. For the tobacco space, 22nd Century Group has developed cigarettes with 95% less nicotine than conventional ones. For the cannabis industry, it is working on developing proprietary hemp/cannabis plants with premium cannabinoid profiles and agronomic features.

22nd Century Group's shares were trading 5.18% higher at $4.87 per share at the time of writing.

Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash