Date: 2016-06-01
Type of information: Private placement
Company: Ablynx (Belgium)
Investors:
Amount: € 74.2 million
Funding type: private placement
Planned used: Ablynx will use the net proceeds of the transaction to fund clinical development and commercialisation of its most advanced assets. The company plans to study the expansion of the use of caplacizumab and ALX-0171 across other indications. Caplacizumab is an anti-von Willebrand Factor (vWF) Nanobody currently in phase 3 for the treatment of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. monoclonal antibody/nanobody. ALX-0171 is a trivalent Nanobody product targeting respiratory syncitial virus (RSV). This trivalent molecule is administered through inhalation instead of injection. ALX-0171 is currently in phase 2 in infants, aged 1-24 months, hospitalised as a result of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. These funds will also allow increased strategic and financial flexibility in the further development of ALX-0061, a Nanobody binding to the interleukin-6 receptor. Two phase 2 trials are ongoing in adult patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and in adult patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Ablynx has currently 40 wholly-owned and partnered programmes and the company will use these funds to support the pre-clinical and clinical development of its other programmes to further expand its portfolio. This financing will also be used to explore the acquisition of complementary assets and to further develop its manufacturing capabilities.
Others: * On June 1, 2016, Ablynx announced that it has raised €74.2 million through a private placement of new shares via
an accelerated book building procedure announced on 1 June 2016. The private placement was oversubscribed and was upsized from the €60 million initially targeted. Ablynx has placed 5,533,720 new shares with domestic and international institutional investors at a price of €13.40 per share, i.e. a 6.29% discount to today’s closing price. The new shares represent 10% of the current number of outstanding shares (pre-transaction) and will bring the total number of shares (post-transaction) to 60,870,926. The new shares will be admitted to trading on Euronext Brussels following their issuance, which is expected to take place on 6 June 2016.
* On June 1, 2016, Ablynx announced the launch of a private placement of new shares to institutional investors to raise gross proceeds of up to approximately €60 million. The Company may increase this amount, but will in any event place less than 10% of its current number of listed and outstanding shares (i.e. a maximum of 5,533,720 new shares). The Board of Directors has decided to cancel the preferential subscription rights of the existing shareholders in the framework of the Transaction with respect to the issuance of the new shares, which will take place within the limits of the authorised share capital as set out in the Company’s articles of association and in accordance with Article 604 of the Belgian Company
code. The new shares will be placed through an accelerated book build, open for institutional investors with immediate effect and expected to close tomorrow 2 June 2016, subject to take-up. Ablynx has asked the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) to suspend its shares from trading on Euronext Brussels (except if the placing would be completed prior to start of trading tomorrow). If applicable, trading of the shares is expected to resume shortly following the publication of the results of the Transaction. J.P. Morgan Securities plc, Jefferies International Limited and KBC Securities NV are acting as joint bookrunners.
Therapeutic area: Autoimmune diseases – Inflammatory diseases - Rheumatic diseases - Dermatological diseases
