UPPSALA, Sweden, Dec. 21, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- At the Annual General Meeting of shareholders held on April 22, 2002, a global employee stock option program was adopted for the employees of the group. The Board has on December 21, 2004 resolved to allot 446,000 employee stock options to 203 persons in accordance with the option program, of which members of the senior management receive a maximum of 10,000 - 30,000 stock options each; members of the junior management receive a maximum of 3,600 - 10,000 stock options each; other members of management and key employees receive a maximum of 1,200 stock options each; and other employees receive a maximum of 400 stock options each. The CEO and President of the company has not been allotted any of the employee stock options.
Each stock option entitles the holder to acquire one ordinary share in Biotage at an exercise price of SEK 10.23. The stock options have an exercise period of 5 years, they may at the earliest be exercised after a vesting period of one year and there is a requirement that when exercising the options the holder must still be an employee of the group. At the annual general meeting on April 28, 2004 it was resolved to amend the global employee stock option program as to entitle Biotage to issue such maximum number of employee stock options that may result in a transfer of a maximum of 914,800 ordinary shares in Biotage to employees. As a result of that employee stock options have lapsed when employees have left the group, Biotage has now, following the abovementioned allotment of stock options, 913,717 employee stock options outstanding.
In order to cover Biotage's commitments in relation to the employee stock options now allotted under the program, the Board has also on December 21, 2004 resolved to issue debentures amounting to a maximum of SEK 954.67 together with a maximum of 95,467 detachable warrants. The issue is based on the authorization from the Annual General Meeting of shareholders held on April 28, 2004. The warrants entitle to subscription of a maximum of 95,467 ordinary shares in the company. Each warrant has an exercise period of 5 years and entitles the holder to subscribe to one ordinary share in Biotage at an exercise price of SEK 10.23. The right to subscribe for the debentures together with the warrants is limited to the wholly owned subsidiary CEMU Bioteknik AB. As a result of that CEMU Bioteknik AB already holds warrants due to issues made during 2002 and 2003, which will be used to secure Biotage's obligations in relation to the global employee stock option program, the Board's decision does only amount to 95,467 warrants.
About Biotage
Biotage is a global company active in life science research with strong technologies, a broad range of operations and a long-term view of the market. The company offers solutions, knowledge and experience in the areas of genetic analysis and medicinal chemistry. Customers include the world's top 30 pharmaceutical companies, 20 largest biotech companies and leading academic institutes. The company is headquartered in Uppsala and has offices in the US, Japan and several European countries. Biotage has approx. 235 employees and had pro forma sales of 362 MSEK in 2003. Biotage is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. Website: www.biotage.com
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward- looking words or phrases such as "believe," "expect," "intend," and "should," among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Biotage's current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Biotage notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with management of growth and international operations (including the effects of currency fluctuations), variability of operating results, the commercial development of the microwave synthesis and flash purification in the drug discovery market, DNA sequencing and genomics market, nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics market, and genetic vaccination and gene therapy markets, competition, rapid or unexpected changes in technologies, fluctuations in demand for Biotage's products (including seasonal fluctuations), difficulties in successfully adapting the Company's products to integrated solutions and producing such products, and the Company's ability to identify and develop new products and to differentiate its products from competitors.
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