THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE EU MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO.596/2014
Arix Bioscience plc
Harpoon prices Nasdaq IPO
LONDON, 8 February 2019
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Fourth public listing of an Arix company, three years after Arix was founded
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Arix agrees to invest $6.0 million (£4.6 million)[1] in the IPO, to give a new ownership stake of 12.1% in Harpoon
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The new total value of Arix’s shareholding in Harpoon is £31.3 million; this includes a fair value uplift of £6.2 million to the last disclosed value of £20.2 million
Arix Bioscience plc (LSE:ARIX) ("Arix"), a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation today notes one of its portfolio companies, Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc. (“Harpoon”) has announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 5,400,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $14.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $75.6 million. In addition, Harpoon has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 810,000 shares of common stock. All of the shares are being offered by Harpoon. Harpoon’s common stock is expected to begin trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on 8 February 2019 under the ticker symbol “HARP”.
The IPO results in an increase in the value of Arix’s existing holding in Harpoon to £26.7 million; a £6.2 million uplift to the last disclosed value of £20.2 million. Additionally, Arix has agreed to invest $6.0 million (£4.6 million) in the IPO, (amounting to 2,892,119 shares of common stock), giving a total new valuation of £31.3 million and a new ownership stake in Harpoon of 12.1%. Arix’s Mark Chin will continue to serve on the Harpoon Board.
Joe Anderson, CIO of Arix, commented:
“Harpoon has a novel, T-cell engager platform which we believe could be instrumental to the discovery and development of important new therapeutics in oncology. Coupled with its scientific expertise and strong management team, we believe Harpoon is well-positioned to play a significant role in immuno-oncology. As early investors in Harpoon, we are excited to see the potential of the company continue to grow.”
| Arix valuation at 12 November 2018 |
£20.2m |
| Valuation uplift |
£6.2m |
| Participation in IPO |
£4.6m ($6.0m) |
| Foreign exchange movements |
£0.3m |
| Total Arix valuation |
£31.3m |
[1] All amounts that shown are at an exchange rate of GBP 1.0000 : USD 1.2950
The above assumes formal completion of the Harpoon IPO
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.
A registration statement relating to the shares being sold in this offering was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on 7 February, 2019. The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus may be obtained from Citigroup Global Markets Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, or by telephone at (800) 831-9146 ; or SVB Leerink Partners LLC, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, MA 02110, by telephone at (800) 808-7525, ext. 6132, or by e-mail at syndicate@svbleerink.com.
Enquiries
For more information on Arix, please contact:
Arix Bioscience plc
Charlotte Parry, Head of Investor Relations
+44 (0)20 7290 1072
charlotte@arixbioscience.com
Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur
+44 (0) 203 950 9144
optimum.arix@optimumcomms.com
About Arix Bioscience plc
Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York, Arix Bioscience sources, finances and builds world class healthcare and life science businesses addressing medical innovation at all stages of development. Operations are supported by privileged access to breakthrough academic science and strategic relationships with leading research accelerators and global pharmaceutical companies.
Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit www.arixbioscience.com
About Harpoon Therapeutics
Harpoon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing a novel class of T cell engagers that harness the power of the body’s immune system to treat patients suffering from cancer and other diseases. T cell engagers are engineered proteins that direct a patient’s own T cells to kill target cells that express specific proteins, or antigens, carried by the target cells. Using its proprietary Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct™ (“TriTAC”), platform, Harpoon is developing a pipeline of novel T cell engagers, or TriTACs, initially focused on the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.