Valneva Raises €50 Million in Oversubscribed Placement Led by US Healthcare Investors

Saint-Herblain (France), September 27th, 2018 - Valneva SE ("Valneva" or "the Company"), a commercial stage biotech company focused on developing innovative lifesaving vaccines, today announced that it has raised €50 million of gross proceeds in a private placement of its ordinary shares. The transaction, led by blue-chip US healthcare investors and supported by the Company's existing major shareholders, was heavily oversubscribed.

Thomas Lingelbach, Valneva's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are delighted that several leading US healthcare funds have invested in Valneva. This investment supports our capital access strategy and future growth, including the acceleration of our key development programs. We are grateful for the continued support of our main existing shareholders".

The capital raise was conducted by means of a private placement reserved for qualified investors. Approximately 81% of the shares were allocated to US investors. Two of the Company's major shareholders, Groupe Grimaud and MVM Life Science Partners, also participated in the placement. Groupe Grimaud and MVM Life Science Partners have subscribed 12.0% and 6.0% of the new shares respectively. On this basis, after completion of the capital increase, Groupe Grimaud and MVM Life Science Partners will hold 15.1% and 7.3% of the share capital of the Company respectively.

Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as Lead Placement Agent and Oddo BHF acted as Joint Placement Agent

Key characteristics of the offeringA total of 13,333,334 new shares, par value €0.15 each, have been placed with new and existing investors. The new shares, representing approximately 17% of the issued share capital of the Company prior to the share capital increase, will be issued pursuant to a decision of the Company's Management Board, in accordance with the authorization granted by the Supervisory Board on September 20, 2018 pursuant to the seventeenth resolution of the annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Company held on June 28, 2018 and in accordance with articles L. 225-136 of the French Commercial code (code de commerce) and L. 411-2(II) of the French monetary and financial code (code monétaire et financier).On an illustrative basis, a shareholder holding 1% of Valneva's capital before the offering will now hold a stake of 0.85%.

The issue price of the new shares has been set at €3.75 per share, representing a 2.6% discount to the volume weighted average price of the Company's shares on the regulated market of Euronext Paris over the 3 last trading days before pricing (i.e. from September 24th, 2018 to September 26th, 2018 inclusive), which was €3.85.

Following the settlement and delivery of the new shares, the Company's share capital will be €13,637,557 consisting of 90,917,048 shares, nominal value of €0.15 each. The expected closing date of the offering is October 1st, 2018.

Use of proceeds

The offering proceeds raised will be used to pursue the clinical development of the Company's pipeline candidates, notably its vaccine candidates against Lyme and Chikungunya, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. Net proceeds will reinforce the cash position of the Company which amounted to €37.7 million at the end of June 2018.

Admission to listing of the new shares

The new shares will carry dividend rights as from their issue date and be immediately fungible in all respects with the Company's existing shares. The new shares are expected to be admitted to trading under the same code as the existing shares (ISIN FR0004056851) on October 1st, 2018 on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris and as soon as possible thereafter on the regulated market of the Vienna Stock Exchange (Austria).

The offering is not subject to a prospectus to be approved by the French financial markets authority (Autorité des marchés financiers).

Standstill and lock-up provisions

Valneva has entered into a lock-up agreement ending 90 calendar days after the date of the closing of the offering which, subject to customary exceptions, limits the Company's ability to issue additional shares during the lock-up period. The Company's Management Board members, members of the Supervisory Board holding Valneva shares or equity warrants and Valneva's three largest shareholders have also signed lock-up agreements with regard to the Company's shares that they hold, restricting their ability to sell or transfer those shares for the same 90-day period. 

Risk factors

Attention is drawn to the risk factors related to the Company and its activities presented in section 1.5 of the Company's half year financial report published on August 2, 2018 and section A.5 of the 2017 registration document filed with the Autorité des marchés financiers on March 21, 2018 under number D.18-0159, which is available on the Autorité des marchés financiers website (www.amf-france.org) or on the Company's website (www.valneva.com).

This announcement does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive or an offer to the public.

About Valneva SE
Valneva is a fully integrated, commercial stage biotech company focused on developing innovative life-saving vaccines.
Valneva's portfolio includes two commercial vaccines for travelers: IXIARO^®/JESPECT^® indicated for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL^® indicated for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. The Company has various vaccines in development including a unique vaccine against Lyme disease. Valneva has operations in Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and the US with over 450 employees. More information is available at www.valneva.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Valneva, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical trials for product candidates, the ability to manufacture, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for product candidates, the ability to protect intellectual property and operate the business without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of Valneva are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of Valneva may not be indicative of their in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the current expectations of Valneva as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of Valneva could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development and manufacture of vaccines, unexpected clinical trial results, unexpected regulatory actions or delays, competition in general, currency fluctuations, the impact of the global and European credit crisis, and the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made during this presentation will in fact be realized. Valneva is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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EU Disclaimer
This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003, as amended (the "Prospectus Directive").
With respect to the member States of the European Economic Area which have implemented the Prospectus Directive, no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of the securities referred to herein requiring a publication of a prospectus in any relevant member State. As a result, the securities may not and will not be offered in any relevant member State except in accordance with the exemptions set forth in Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive, if they have been implemented in that relevant member State, or under any other circumstances which do not require the publication by the Company of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive and/or to applicable regulations of that relevant member State.
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