TUCSON, Ariz., March 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. (Nasdaq:AXDX) today announced its intention to offer, subject to market conditions and other factors, $150.0 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2023 (the “notes”) in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”). Accelerate Diagnostics also intends to grant the initial purchasers of the notes a 13-day option to purchase up to an additional $22.5 million aggregate principal amount of the notes.

The notes will be senior unsecured obligations of Accelerate Diagnostics, and interest will be payable semi-annually in arrears. The notes will be convertible into cash, shares of Accelerate Diagnostics’s common stock, or a combination thereof, at Accelerate Diagnostics’s election. The interest rate, initial conversion rate, repurchase rights and other terms of the notes are to be determined upon pricing of the offering by negotiations between Accelerate Diagnostics and the initial purchasers of the notes.

Accelerate Diagnostics expects to use a portion of the net proceeds of the offering of the notes to pay the prepayment amount of the prepaid forward described below and to use the remaining proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes and to fund its commercialization efforts, which may include working capital, capital expenditures, potential acquisitions and strategic transactions. Accelerate Diagnostics has no current agreements with respect to any material acquisition or strategic transaction.