Date: 2013-07-04
Type of information: Capital increase
Company: Valneva
Investors: FSI (France) Groupe Grimaud (France) Unigrains (France)
Amount: €40.2 million
Funding type: capital increase
Planned used: The proceeds from the capital increase will be used primarily to strengthen the Company’s financial profile as well as to implement its strategy as Valneva strives to become a European leader in antibody discovery and vaccines development and commercialization.
Others:
* On July 4, 2013, Valneva has announced the successful completion of its capital increase with pre-emptive subscription rights launched on June 13th, 2013. The capital increase was oversubscribed and the final gross proceeds amount to €40,187,819.75 with the issuance of 15,165,215 new shares.Total subscription orders for this capital increase amounted to approximately €58.7 million, i.e., a subscription rate of approximately 146%. 13,439,860 new shares were subscribed on an irreducible basis ("à titre irréductible”), representing approximately 88.6% of the new shares to be issued. Subscription orders on a reducible basis ("à titre réductible”) amounted to 8,723,132 new shares and will, as a result, be satisfied only in part, i.e. for 1,725,355 new shares.
As per their subscription commitments, France’s Strategic Investment Fund (“FSI”) and Groupe Grimaud subscribed on an irreducible and reducible basis for a total amount of €17.1 million (representing 42,6% of the rights issue size), of which €14.6 million for the FSI and €2.5 million for Groupe Grimaud.
Upon completion of the capital increase, the FSI will hold 10.1% of the share capital of the Company. Furthermore, Groupe Grimaud will remain Valneva’s first shareholder with a 21.7% stake in the Company.
The settlement-delivery and the listing of the new ordinary shares are expected to occur on July 5th, 2013. The new ordinary shares will carry full rights (“jouissance courante”). They will be immediately fungible with the Company’s existing ordinary shares and will admitted to trading on the regulated market of NYSE Euronext in Paris ("Euronext Paris") as well as on the regulated marked of the Vienna Stock Exchange ("Vienna Stock Exchange" or "VSE") on the same listing line under the same ISIN code FR0004056851.
This transaction has been led by Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking, acting as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners of the offering.
* On June 13th, 2013, as communicated in the context of the merger between Vivalis and Intercell - effective since May 28th, 2013 - to form Valneva, the new combined group has announced the terms and conditions of its capital increase with preferential subscription rights to existing shareholders for a gross amount of approximately €40.2 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the capital increase in the following manner:• To continue supporting the growth, commercialization development and life-cycle management of its Japanese encephalitis vaccine, Ixiaro®/Jespect®;
• To develop a second commercial vaccine, which could be either an internal or an in-licensed program and to progress its partnered vaccine development portfolio;
• To discover novel antibody candidates with the purpose to out-license them for clinical development;
• To invest in vaccine research in order to build a vaccine development portfolio; and
• To reinforce the company's financial flexibility in order to become a sustainable, independent, growing business and for general corporate purposes within the biotechnology sector;
A maximum amount of €10 million from the net proceeds of the capital increase will temporarily be used to fund the repayment of a royalty-related secured loan if a replacement loan is put in place by the end of the year. The Company is currently in negotiation with several investors in order to put inplace a €20 million loan contract by year-end, with the objective to obtain more favourable conditions than the existing loan.
Firm commitments have already been received from investors, some of whom are shareholders of the company, for an aggregate amount of approximately €30 million, representing 74.6% of the gross amount of the proposed capital increase. The FSI has decided to support Valneva’s development by participating in this capital increase with the intention to become a long-term shareholder of the Group.
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
