PARIS (Reuters) – Struggling artificial heart maker Carmat is appealing to its main shareholders, led by Airbus, to invest new funds to prevent its collapse.

The medical technology company’s shares fell 37% last week, after Carmat warned of liquidity risks at the end of October due to supply problems, and she was actively exploring “several financing options.”

Airbus, the main shareholder of Carmat, is linked to the identity of the company created in 1993, the industrialist Jean-Luc Lagardère having requested the expertise of engineers in precision mechanics for missiles in order to create this new company with the eminent cardiac surgeon Alain Carpentier.

Carmat, whose name combines that of Alain Carpentier and the company Matra Defense (Lagardère), was then listed on the stock market and Airbus now holds 12%.

Stéphane Piat, Carmat’s chief executive, told Reuters that the participation of existing shareholders, including Airbus, in any fundraising would send an important signal.

“This is the message we give to our existing shareholders: that we live thanks to (them),” he declared.

“They are the ones who decide whether we continue or not, and therefore they have the most important role among our shareholders. We always hope that (the decision) will be yes.”

Negotiations over funding are ongoing and the French government is aware of the situation, sources said.

Emmanuel Macron has made health technologies a key element of his reindustrialization plan for 2030 and the French company is one of the rare companies to develop alternatives to heart transplants in a context of organ shortage.

Sources said Carmat, which had €24 million in cash at mid-year, was looking to raise a total of around €100 million. The company has not officially disclosed any amounts.

The decision whether to continue investing in the company is one of the topics that new Airbus CFO Thomas Toepfer is expected to address soon.

“(Airbus) is important because he is the first investor and co-founder and he has a key role, and I believe he is aware of this and that he is responsible,” said Stéphane Piat.

Airbus said this week it had invested 50 million euros in Carmat, but did not say whether it planned to spend more.

Carmat’s Aeson prosthetic heart is connected to a battery and a controller carried in a pouch. Currently, 13 people are equipped with this device, the manufacture of which costs around 90,000 euros.

No emergency plan to continue supporting these people is yet known if Carmat cannot raise the funds necessary for its survival.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Michal Aleksandrowicz and Laura Lenkiewicz, with contributions from Stéphanie Hamel and Josephine Mason, Stéphanie Hamel, editing by Kate Entringer)

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