Generex Biotechnology received notice yesterday from the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel that it has been determined to delist the Company’s common stock from the NASDAQ Capital Market and trading of the stock will be suspended as of the open on Thursday, October 21, 2010 as a result of non-compliance with the minimum $1.00 per share closing bid price requirement for continued listing on the NASDAQ CM.
Generex will retain its ticker symbol of GNBT and begin trading and listing on the OTCBB through the OTCQB tier of Pink OTC Markets, Inc. Real time stock quotes for GNBT will be available at www.otcmarkets.com. The OTCQB has become a haven of OTC traded companies that are registered and reporting with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The term “OTC” has become an acronym of Open, Transparent, and Connected for the website as the firm strives to bring transparency and organization to the over-the-counter exchange through its 3-tier system.
Generex commented that this move to the OTCQB will not detour it from its goals to develop its products and bring them to market.
The company did make an attempt to address the price per share requirement via a proposed reverse stock split was proposed, but did not achieve the necessary vote to pass the proposal. The voting breakdown for the reverse split was as follows:
• Outstanding shares as of August 12 record date: 269,360,643
• Total votes cast: 191,872,323 (71.23% of total outstanding)
• Votes in favor of reverse split: 127,819,048 (66.61% of total votes cast, but only 47.45% of total outstanding shares and a majority is required to approve)
However – after announcing a pending acquisition of a 51% equity interest in Global Medical Direct, LLC – interest in the stock split changed drastically. The voting change to:
• Outstanding shares as of August 12 record date: 269,360,643
• Total votes cast: 203,621,987
• Votes in favor of reverse split: 170,131,061 (63.16% of outstanding shares, which is enough to pass reverse split proposal)
Due to the large change in shareholder confidence to approve the reverse stock split, Generex intends to appeal the Panel’s delisting determination to the NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council. There is nothing that can be done until the Review Council hears the case and comes to a decision, so in the meantime, Generex will be traded on the OTCQB.
More on Generex can be found on the Company’s website at www.generex.com.
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