(News Bulletin 247) – The chairman of the board of directors of the designer of the artificial heart Aeson, Pierre Bastid, declared this Friday on the show Good Morning Business that a delisting of the company would represent an “ideal” solution. But which still appears to be “premature” at this stage.

Carmat is chasing cash to ensure its survival. The designer of the artificial heart Aeson launched a capital increase of 10.3 million euros at the beginning of the week (which could be increased to 13.6 million if the extension clause and the over-allotment option are exercised).

This call to the market should allow the company to finance its activities until the end of 2024. Without this fundraising, Carmat would run out of money at the end of the month.

Guest on BFM Business, Pierre Bastid, chairman of the board of directors and 13.5% shareholder of Carmat, acknowledged “that raising money (was) Carmat’s main difficulty today”.

The aim of the capital increase is to “hold out until the end of the year, perhaps even January, it will depend on the success of this fundraising, we are reducing the ‘cash burn’ (the consumption of cash, editor’s note)”, the manager explained. “The idea is to be able, at the end of the year, to announce enough good news to be able to encourage current shareholders and even new investors” to put their money into the pot, he added.

Pierre Bastid, who became chairman of the board of directors in July, nevertheless believes that the best solution for Carmat would ultimately be to delist.

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Forecasts to keep

“In an ideal world, we would find someone with very deep pockets, who would put between 200 and 300 million euros on the table, who would take Carmat off the stock market,” explained the manager. “I think that would be a very good solution, because it would allow the teams to work in peace, to no longer be under the pressure of the money that we are looking for, of the communications that we have to make,” he added.

“We are working on a solution of this type but it is largely premature to talk about it,” he acknowledged.

Pierre Bastid also considered that Carmat’s difficulties in raising money can be explained by its financial communication and its forecasts.

“Out of enthusiasm, perhaps out of naivety, we announced things that we did not always keep. We have a track record that is not very good in terms of forecasts. This is one of the things I will focus on: providing reliable information and forecasts that will be kept,” the manager said.

At the beginning of September, Carmat had lowered its revenue forecast for the 2024 financial year, bringing it to a range of 8 million to 12 million euros, compared to 14 million euros previously.