Calliditas considers a directed share issue
Calliditas Therapeutics AB (publ) (”Calliditas” or the ”Company”), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of high quality pharmaceutical products within niche indications, today announced its intention to carry out a directed share issue of approximately SEK 200 million (the “Issue”) to Swedish and international institutional investors. In the event of sufficient demand for the Issue, some current major shareholders in the Company - Stiftelsen Industrifonden (“Industrifonden”), Investinor AS (“Investinor”) and Bengt Julander (excluding the holding through Linc AB) (jointly “the Major shareholders”) - may also sell shares in the Company corresponding to approximately SEK 90 million (at the same share price as the Issue). Additionally, the U.S. specialist investor BVF Partners L.P. (“BVF”) has expressed its interest in investing USD 12 million (approximately SEK 112 million) in the Company.
The transaction in brief
The directed share issue is intended to be carried out with deviation from the shareholders’ preferential rights in accordance with the authorization granted by the Annual General Meeting on May 8, 2019, through an accelerated building process (the “Bookbuilding”), which will commence immediately. Pricing and allocation of the new shares is expected to take place before the beginning of trading on Nasdaq Stockholm at 09:00 CEST on July 3, 2019. The timing of closing, pricing and allocation in the Bookbuilding is at the discretion of the Company. The Company will announce the outcome of the Issue when the Bookbuilding has been completed in a subsequent press release.
In the event of sufficient demand, the Major shareholders may also, in connection with the Issue, sell existing shares in the Company at the same price as the issue, corresponding to approximately SEK 90 million. Bengt Julander will not sell any shares in the Company through Linc AB, where a majority of the holding is registered, and has expressed its intention to remain a long-term owner in the Company. Additionally, Industrifonden, Investinor and Mikael Bender (former Zaragetero LTD) have also issued 1.1 million call options to BVF, which will be acquired at market value using the Black-Scholes model.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Issue for:
i. expansion of ongoing clinical development, including new studies;
ii. acceleration of activities to build pipeline; and
iii. general corporate purposes
The Company believes that using the flexibility provided by a non-pre-emptive placing is the most appropriate and optimal transaction structure at this time in order to raise capital for the development of ongoing projects in a time and cost-effective manner. Moreover, the Company will further diversify the shareholder base with Swedish and international institutional investors and sector specialist investors.
In connection with the Issue, the Company has agreed to a lock-up undertaking, with customary exceptions, on future share issuances for a period of 90 days. In addition, members of the Board of Directors of Calliditas and management of Calliditas, who owns shares or warrants, have, in connection with the Issue, agreed not to sell any shares in the Company during a lock-up period of 90 days subject to customary exceptions. Subject to the corresponding exceptions, the Major shareholders, Mikael Bender and Linc AB have undertaken not to sell shares in the Company for a period of 90 days.
Advisers
In conjunction with the Issue, the Company has engaged Carnegie Investment Bank and Zonda Partners as Joint Bookrunners and Vinge as legal adviser to the Company. Baker McKenzie will act as legal adviser to the Joint Bookrunners in connection with the Issue.
For further information, please contact:
Renée Aguiar-Lucander, CEO at Calliditas
Email: renee.lucander@calliditas.com
Telephone: +46 722 52 10 06
Mikael Widell, Head of Communications and IR
E-post: mikael.widell@calliditas.com
Telephone: +46 703 11 99 60
This is information that Calliditas Therapeutics AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was sent for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, on July 2, 2019 at 17:45 CEST.
About Calliditas
Calliditas is a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Stockholm, Sweden. It is focused on developing high quality pharmaceutical products for patients with a significant unmet medical need in niche indications, in which the company can partially or completely participate in the commercialization efforts. The company is focused on the development and commercialization of the product candidate Nefecon, a unique formulation optimized to combine a time lag effect with a concentrated release of the active substance budesonide, within a designated target area. This patented, locally acting formulation is intended for treatment of patients with the inflammatory renal disease IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Calliditas Therapeutics is running a global Phase 3 study within IgAN and plans to commercialize Nefecon in the US. The company is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ticker: CALTX). Visit www.calliditas.com for further information.
Important information
Publication, announcement or distribution of this press release may, in certain jurisdictions, be subject to restrictions. The recipients of this press release in jurisdictions where this press release has been published or distributed shall inform themselves of and follow such restrictions. This press release does not constitute an offer, or a solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in the Company in any jurisdiction, neither from Calliditas nor from anyone else.
This announcement does not identify or suggest, or purport to identify or suggest, the risks (direct or indirect) that may be associated with an investment in the new shares. Any investment decision in connection with the Issue must be made on the basis of all publicly available information relating to the Company and the Company’s shares. Such information has not been independently verified by the Joint Bookrunners. The information contained in this announcement is for background purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. No reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information contained in this announcement or its accuracy or completeness. The Joint Bookrunners are acting for the Company in connection with the transaction and no one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to its clients nor for giving advice in relation to the transaction or any other matter referred to herein.
This announcement does not constitute a recommendation concerning any investor’s option with respect to the Issue. Each investor or prospective investor should conduct his, her or its own investigation, analysis and evaluation of the business and data described in this announcement and publicly available information. The price and value of securities can go down as well as up. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
This press release does not constitute or form part of an offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States. The securities referred to herein may not be sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. There is no intention to register any securities referred to herein in the United States or to make a public offering of the securities in the United States. The information in this press release may not be announced, published, copied or distributed, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, within or into Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, New Zeeland, Singapore, South Africa, the United States or in any other jurisdiction where the announcement, publication or distribution of the information would not comply with applicable laws and regulations or would require prospectuses, registration or any other measures than those required by Swedish law. Actions taken in violation of this instruction may constitute a crime against applicable securities laws and regulations.
This press release is not a prospectus for the purposes of Directive 2003/71/EC (the “Prospectus Directive”) and has not been approved by any regulatory authority in any jurisdiction. Calliditas has not authorized any offer to the public of shares or rights in any member state of the EEA and no prospectus has been or will be prepared in connection with the Issue. In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive.
In the United Kingdom, this document and any other materials in relation to the securities described herein is only being distributed and directed to, and any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to, ,and can only be engaged by, “qualified investors” who are (i) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments and who fall within the definition of “investment professionals” in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”); or (ii) high net worth individuals falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). In the United Kingdom, any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Persons who are not relevant persons should not take any action based on this press release nor act or rely on it.
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company’s intentions, assessments, or current expectations about and targets for the Company’s future results of operations, financial condition, development, liquidity, performance, prospects, anticipated growth, strategies and opportunities and the markets in which the Company operates, including with respect to prospects for pharmaceutical treatments and studies. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by the fact that they contain words such as “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “estimate”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “aim” or “might”, or, in each case, their negative, or similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that they will materialize or prove to be correct. Because these statements are based on assumptions or estimates and are subject to risks and uncertainties, the actual results or outcome could differ materially from those set out in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not guarantee that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this press release are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this press release or any obligation to update or revise the statements in this press release to reflect subsequent events. Readers of this press release should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this press release. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as at its date and are subject to change without notice. Neither the Company nor anyone else undertake any obligation to review, update, confirm or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this press release.
Information to distributors
Solely for the purposes of the product governance requirements contained within: (a) EU Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, as amended (“MiFID II”); (b) Articles 9 and 10 of Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 supplementing MiFID II; and (c) local implementing measures (together, the “MiFID II Product Governance Requirements”), and disclaiming all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise, which any “manufacturer” (for the purposes of the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements) may otherwise have with respect thereto, the shares in Calliditas have been subject to a product approval process, which has determined that such shares are: (i) compatible with an end target market of retail investors and investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties, each as defined in MiFID II; and (ii) eligible for distribution through all distribution channels as are permitted by MiFID II (the “Target Market Assessment”). Notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, Distributors should note that: the price of the shares in Calliditas may decline and investors could lose all or part of their investment; the shares in Calliditas offer no guaranteed income and no capital protection; and an investment in the shares in Calliditas is compatible only with investors who do not need a guaranteed income or capital protection, who (either alone or in conjunction with an appropriate financial or other adviser) are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of such an investment and who have sufficient resources to be able to bear any losses that may result therefrom. The Target Market Assessment is without prejudice to the requirements of any contractual, legal or regulatory selling restrictions in relation to the Issue.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Target Market Assessment does not constitute: (a) an assessment of suitability or appropriateness for the purposes of MiFID II; or (b) a recommendation to any investor or group of investors to invest in, or purchase, or take any other action whatsoever with respect to the shares in Calliditas.
Each distributor is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the shares in Calliditas and determining appropriate distribution channels.