Regulated information - Inside information
September 17, 2018, 10:00 PM CEST - 4:00 PM ET
Breda, the Netherlands / Ghent, Belgium - argenx (Euronext & Nasdaq: ARGX) a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a deep pipeline of differentiated antibody-based therapies for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases and cancer, announced today that it has commenced an underwritten U.S. public offering of American Depositary Shares (ADSs) and an offering of ADSs in Europe only to qualified investors (within the meaning of Directive 2003/71/EC, as amended) (the Offering). argenx aims to offer and sell, subject to market and other conditions, ADSs for approximately $300 million. Each of the ADSs offered in the Offering represents the right to receive one ordinary share, nominal value of €0.10 per share. All of the ADSs in the proposed Offering are to be sold by argenx. The final price per ADS in the Offering will be determined following the accelerated bookbuilding process.
argenx intends to grant the underwriters of the Offering a 30-day option to purchase additional ordinary shares in the form of ADSs, provided that the number of such additional ADSs shall not exceed 15% of the ADSs sold in the Offering.
argenx's ADSs are currently listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "ARGX" and argenx's ordinary shares are currently listed on Euronext Brussels under the symbol "ARGX."
Morgan Stanley, Cowen and Evercore ISI are acting as joint bookrunning managers for the Offering, and Kempen and Nomura are acting as co-managers. Piper Jaffray is acting as a financial advisor in connection with the Offering. The Offering is subject to market and other conditions and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the Offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the Offering.
The securities are being offered pursuant to an automatically effective shelf registration statement that was previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
When available, copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to these securities may be obtained for free from Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014, United States, Attention: Prospectus Department; from Cowen and Company, LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, Attn: Prospectus Department, by telephone at (631) 274-2806 or by fax at (631) 254-7140; or Evercore Group L.L.C., Attention: Equity Capital Markets, 55 East 52nd Street, 36th Floor, New York, NY 10055, or by telephone at (888) 474-0200.
A request for the admission to listing and trading of the ordinary shares underlying the ADSs (the New Ordinary Shares) on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels will be made following pricing of the Offering. For such admission to listing and trading of the New Ordinary Shares on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels, a listing prospectus for the purpose of Article 3, §3 of the Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 4, 2003, as amended, including by Directive 2010/73/EU, is prepared in accordance with Chapter 5.1 of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht) and will be filed with the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Stichting Autoriteit Financiële Markten) (the AFM). After approval, the listing prospectus will be notified by the AFM to the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (Autoriteit voor Financiële Diensten en Markten), for passporting in accordance with article 18 of the Prospectus Directive.
This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe to any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is not permitted or to any person or entity to whom it is unlawful to make such offer, solicitation or sale. Reference is also made to the restrictions set out in "Important information" below. This press release is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into any state or jurisdiction into which doing so would be unlawful or where a prior registration or approval is required for such purpose.
About argenx
argenx is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a deep pipeline of differentiated antibody-based therapies for the treatment of severe auto-immune diseases and cancer. The company is focused on developing product candidates with the potential to be either first-in-class against novel targets or best-in-class against known, but complex, targets in order to treat diseases with a significant unmet medical need. argenx's ability to execute on this focus is enabled by its suite of differentiated technologies. The SIMPLE AntibodyTM Platform, based on the powerful llama immune system, allows argenx to exploit novel and complex targets, and its three complementary Fc engineering technologies are designed to expand the therapeutic index of its product candidates.
For further information, please contact:
Joke Comijn, Director Corporate Communications & Investor Relations (EU)
+32 (0)477 77 29 44
+32 (0)9 310 34 19
info@argenx.com
Beth DelGiacco, VP Investor Relations (US)
+1 518 424 4980
bdelgiacco@argenx.com
Forward-looking Statements
The contents of this announcement include statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "may," "will," or "should," and include statements argenx makes concerning the completion, timing and size of the proposed Offering, and its expectations with respect to granting the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase additional ADSs. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. argenx's actual results may differ materially from those predicted by the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including argenx's expectations regarding the inherent uncertainties associated with competitive developments, preclinical and clinical trial and product development activities and regulatory approval requirements; argenx's reliance on collaborations with third parties; estimating the commercial potential of argenx's product candidates; argenx's ability to obtain and maintain protection of intellectual property for its technologies and drugs; argenx's limited operating history; and argenx's ability to obtain additional funding for operations and to complete the development and commercialization of its product candidates. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other risks can be found in argenx's U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and reports, including in argenx's most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC as well as subsequent filings and reports filed by argenx with the SEC. Given these uncertainties, the reader is advised not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of publication of this document. argenx undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise the information in this press release, including any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.
Important information
No public offering will be made and no one has taken any action that would, or is intended to, permit a public offering in any country or jurisdiction, other than the United States, where any such action is required, including in the European Economic Area. In the European Economic Area, the transaction to which this press release relates will only be available to, and will be engaged in only with, qualified investors within the meaning of Directive 2003/71/EC (together with any applicable implementing measures in the relevant member state of the European Economic Area and as amended, including by Directive 2010/73/EU, to the extent implemented in the relevant member state).
In addition, in the United Kingdom, the transaction to which this press release relates will only be available to, and will be engaged in only with, investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the Order), persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The securities referred to herein are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this communication or any of its contents.