On October 26, 2021 Valneva SE (Nasdaq: VALN; Euronext Paris: VLA) (the "Company"), a specialty vaccine company, reported its intention to issue and sell, subject to market conditions, 5,500,000 of its ordinary shares in a global offering to specified categories of investors comprised of (i) a public offering of its American Depositary Shares ("ADSs"), each representing two ordinary shares, in the United States (the "U.S. Offering") and (ii) a concurrent private placement of its ordinary shares in certain jurisdictions outside of the United States (the "European Private Placement" and together with the U.S. Offering, the "Global Offering") (Press release, Valneva, OCT 26, 2021, View Source [SID1234592082]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, Guggenheim Securities and Bryan, Garnier & Co. are acting as joint bookrunners for the Global Offering.
The Company intends to grant the underwriters for the Global Offering (the "Underwriters") a 30-day option to purchase additional ADSs (each representing two ordinary shares) in an aggregate amount of up to 15% of the total number of ordinary shares (including in the form of ADSs) proposed to be sold in the Global Offering.
All securities to be sold in the Global Offering will be offered by the Company. The ADSs are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "VALN," and the Company’s ordinary shares are listed on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris ("Euronext") under the symbol "VLA."
The offering price per ADS in U.S. dollars and the corresponding offering price per ordinary share in euros, as well as the final number of ADSs and ordinary shares sold in the Global Offering, will be determined following a book building process commencing immediately. The price per ordinary share (and corresponding offering price per ADS) will be at least equal to the weighted average price of the Company’s ordinary shares on Euronext over a period, chosen by the Management Board, of between three (3) and ninety (90) consecutive trading days preceding the determination of the offering price, reduced by a maximum discount of 15%, if applicable.
The ADSs and/or ordinary shares will be issued through a capital increase without shareholders’ preferential subscription rights and for the benefit of a specified category of persons within the meaning of Article L.225-138 of the French Commercial Code (Code de commerce) and pursuant to the 17th and 18th resolutions of the Company’s annual combined general meeting held on June 23, 2021. Under the authority granted by the shareholders in the 17th resolution, the ordinary shares and ADSs may only be purchased initially by (i) natural persons and legal entities, including companies, trusts or investment funds, organized under French or foreign law, that routinely invest in the pharmaceutical, biotechnological or medical technology sector; and/or (ii) companies, institutions or entities of any type, French or foreign, that do a significant part of their business in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical or medical devices and/or technologies or research in these sectors. In order to purchase ordinary shares and/or ADSs in the Global Offering, potential investors will be required to execute and provide to the Underwriters an investor letter representing that they satisfy the foregoing investor criteria.
The European Private Placement will be open only to qualified investors as such term is defined in article 2(e) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 14, 2017.
The closings of the U.S. Offering and the European Private Placement will occur simultaneously, will be conditioned on each other and are expected to occur on the third trading day after the final pricing and allocation of the Global Offering. The underwriting agreement to be entered into among the Company and the Underwriters will not constitute a performance guarantee (garantie de bonne fin) within the meaning of Article L225-145 of the French Commercial Code.
The Global Offering will commence immediately and the Company plans to announce the result of the Global Offering as soon as practicable after pricing thereof in a subsequent press release. The Company expects to use the net proceeds from the Global Offering, together with its existing cash and cash equivalents, as follows (assuming an exchange rate of €1.00 = $1.1603, the exchange rate on October 25, 2021, as reported by the European Central Bank):
Approximately $50 million to fund further development of its Lyme VLA15 vaccine candidate through completion of Phase 2 clinical trials including handover to Pfizer;
Approximately $60 million to complete development of its chikungunya VLA1553 vaccine candidate through BLA approval;
Approximately $100 million to fund further development of its COVID-19 VLA2001 vaccine candidate through conditional licensure and commercial launch, including capital expenditure into production facilities;
Approximately $20 million to fund advancement of preclinical vaccine candidates towards clinical development; and
The remainder, if any, for working capital and general corporate purposes.
A registration statement on Form F-1 relating to the securities referred to herein has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction. The securities sold will not be part of a public offering in France. The registration statement can be accessed by the public on the website of the SEC.
The securities referred to in this press release will be offered in the United States only by means of a prospectus approved by the SEC. When available, copies of the preliminary prospectus relating to and describing the terms of the Global Offering may be obtained from: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, New York 10282, telephone: 866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316, e-mail: [email protected] or Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, or by telephone at +1 877 821 7388 or by email at [email protected].
Application will be made to list the new ordinary shares to be issued pursuant to the Global Offering on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris.
The Global Offering was not subject to a prospectus to be approved by the French financial markets authority (Autorité des marchés financiers – the "AMF"). The Company draws the public’s attention to the risk factors related to the Company and its activities set forth in section 1.5 of the universal registration document of the Company registered with the AMF under number D.21-0286 on April 9, 2021, as completed by the risk factors set forth in the Company’s half year financial report published on August 10, 2021 and the risk factors set forth in section 1.5 of the amendment to the universal registration document of the Company registered with the AMF under number D.21-0286-A01 on October 26, 2021. Copies of the Company’s 2020 universal registration document, as amended, will be available free of charge on the Company’s website (www.valneva.com) and on the AMF’s website (www.amf-france.org).