ASX Escrow Watch: Lithium plays and health companies due to release shares

Pilbara Minerals to release shares issued under its NED fee sacrifice offer
Imricor Medical Systems to release ~75k shares of Class A common stock
Monash IVF Group to release more than 135,000 shares in mid June

Escrow Watch is Stockhead’s monthly recap of the ASX companies that are releasing shares currently in escrow (also known as restricted securities) over the coming weeks.

ASX shares in escrow are “locked away” and not listed on the bourse so owners can’t sell them – until they’re released.

This is intended to depict to would-be investors when raising capital that the management and previous investors are still backing the venture and aren’t raising capital just so they can “sell out”.

While there’s no guarantee holders of escrowed shares will sell at that point, the mere fact that they will be able to is worth knowing – particularly if shares have substantially moved one way or the other.

Click here for a more detailed description of the ASX rules surrounding escrow arrangements. As we head into a new financial year there are quite a few ASX companies due to release shares.

Coming to the start of June, there are few companies releasing shares from out of escrow.

June 1 – Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS)

The hard rock miner has announced that 86,526 ordinary shares previously issued to non-executive directors (NED) under the company’s NED fee sacrifice offer approved by shareholders at the AGM on November 17, 2020, will be released from voluntary escrow today.

PLS has reported an average realised spod price for the March quarter of US$4,840/dmt, a 15% drop on the prior quarter.

June 2 – Imricor Medical Systems (ASX:IMR)

The MRI-compatible medical devices specialist has announced 74,574 shares of Class A common stock (and the equivalent of CDIs) issued to the non-executive directors in May 2022 in the form of restricted stock awards will be released from voluntary escrow.

In April IMR announced it had established the first iCMR lab at the University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV), widely considered one of the best hospitals in the world.

IMR sells capital and consumable products to hospitals and clinics for use in Interventional Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (iCMR) labs, in which ablation procedures using the Vision-MR Ablation Catheter can be performed.

June 15 – Monash IVF (ASX:MVF)

MVF will release 136,626 fully paid ordinary shares currently held under voluntary escrow. The company is on fertile ground, up ~19% YTD, becoming one of the largest providers of reproductive and fertility services in Australia, with a growing presence in South-East Asia.

Over the past 18 months, the company has invested significantly in future growth activities through acquisitions, doctor attraction, new clinical infrastructure and new services.

On Monday the company announced it had completed the acquisition of PIVET Medical Centre, which is a Perth and Cairns
provider of fertility services.

MVF said the release of the escrow shares won’t change the issued capital of the company. There remains MVF 13,367,047 fully paid ordinary shares held under voluntary escrow.