Less than a year after going public and raising close to $6 million, the stem cell company Bioheart has alerted the SEC that it missed a scheduled $180,000 loan payment and is seeking new money to keep the company going.
The Miami Herald reports that the Sunrise, FL-based developer has warned investors that it faces some tough choices, which include layoffs, bankruptcy and closing the business. But the company's CEO, Howard Leonhardt, says the lender--BlueCrest Venture Finance Master Fund--has agreed to provide an extra 90 days for the company to make the payment. Bioheart, he adds, had to deal with an unexpected delay in receiving a $2.5 million loan and he insisted that the company is not in danger of closing.
''The last 24 months in a row we've paid on time and it was an unforeseen event,'' Leonhardt told the Herald. "We're not thinking of bankruptcy at all; it's not even close to consideration--maybe laying off employees.''
A group of board directors and key executives have departed the company in the last two weeks, including CFO William Kline. Bioheart has been developing new technology that uses adult stem cells to repair heart tissue damage.
- check out the report in the Miami Herald