Fastnet shareholders back Amryt Pharma reverse takeover

Shareholders in Fastnet Equity, the company which last year completed the demerger of its oil and gas assets, have voted in favour of a reverse takeover by Amryt Pharma.

Following the vote, trading in the firm’s share on the AIM in London and ESM junior market in Dublin has been cancelled and re-admission and dealings in new shares in the name of Amryt, will commence on Tuesday.

Amryt was established last August as a platform to acquire, develop and monetise a pipeline of drug candidates focused on treating orphan diseases. The all-share deal for Fastnet, involved raising £10 million (€12.5m) for future acquisitions.

Fastnet, which is chaired by one of the founding directors of Merrion Corporate Finance, Cathal Friel, last year abandoned its oil and gas activities off the coast of Ireland and Morocco and switched its focus to the biopharma sector.

The group announced the completion of the demerger of its oil and gas assets into a separate company - Fastnet Hydrocarbons Limited - in December.

Fastnet a $1.5 million loss (€1.38m) for the six months ending September 30th, as against a $39.7 million for the previous six months when the group reported an impairment charge of $36.6 million (€32.8m) arising from its decision to abandon its oil and gas activities.