Term Loan from Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P.
On August 6, 2021, the Company entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the “Avenue Loan Agreement”) with Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P. (the “Lender,” or “Avenue”) for a term loan in an aggregate principal amount of up to $20
million
(the “Avenue Loan”). The Avenue Loan bears interest at an annual rate equal to the greater of (a) the sum of 7.70% plus the prime rate as reported in The Wall Street Journal and (b) 10.95%. The interest rate at March 31, 2022 was 10.95%. The Avenue Loan is secured by all of the Company’s assets globally, including intellectual property. The Avenue Loan matures on August 1, 2024.
The initial tranche of the Avenue Loan is $15.0
million,
including $4.0
million
which has been funded into a restricted account and will be released upon achievement of (a)(x) positive FOCUS trial efficacy per the trial’s predefined Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP) (specifically the Overall Response Rate exceeds the
pre-specified
threshold for success defined in the SAP by a statistically significant amount); and (y) based on data contained within the FOCUS trial database and appropriate for use with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, safety and tolerability among FOCUS trial participants is within the range of currently approved and commonly used cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents; and (b) raising subsequent net equity proceeds of at least $20
million
. The Company may request an additional $5.0
million
of gross proceeds between October 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022, with funding, subject to the approval of Avenue’s Investment Committee.
Up to $3
million
of the principal amount of the Avenue Loan outstanding may be converted, at the option of Avenue, into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price of $11.98 per share.
In connection with the Avenue Loan, the Company issued to Avenue a warrant (the “Avenue Warrant”) to purchase 127,755 shares of common stock at an exercise price per share equal to $0.01. The Avenue Warrant is exercisable until August 31, 2026.
The Company will make monthly interest-only payments during the first fifteen months of the term of the Avenue Loan, which could be increased to up to twenty-four months upon the achievement of specified performance milestones. Following the interest-only period, the Company will make equal monthly payments of principal plus interest until the maturity date, when all remaining principal outstanding and accrued interest must be paid. If the Company prepays the Avenue Loan, it will be required to pay (a) a prepayment fee of 3% if the Avenue Loan is prepaid during the interest-only period; and (b) a prepayment fee of 1% if the Avenue Loan is prepaid after the interest-only period. The Company must make an incremental final payment equal to 4.25% of the aggregate funding.
The Company paid an aggregate commitment fee of $150,000 at closing. Upon funding a second tranche of the Avenue Loan, the Lender will earn a 1.0% fee on the $5.0 million of incremental committed capital, for a total commitment fee of $0.2 million.
The Avenue Loan Agreement requires the Company to make and maintain representations and warranties and other agreements that are customary in loan agreements of this type. The Avenue Loan Agreement also contains customary events of default, including
non-payment
of principal or interest, violations of covenants, bankruptcy and material judgments.
The Company determined that the embedded conversion option associated with the Avenue Loan was not required to be bifurcated. The Company determined that the Avenue Warrant met the criteria to be equity-classified. The $0.6 million value of the final payment was treated as original issue discount. The $1.2 million relative fair value of the Avenue Warrant was credited to Additional Paid in Capital while it was debited as debt discount. Of the $563,000 of cash issuance costs, $519,000 was allocated to the Avenue Loan and was recorded as debit discount, while $44,000 was allocated to the Avenue Warrant and was debited to Additional Paid in Capital. Of the $2.3 million of aggregate debt discount, $1.9 million was allocated to the
non-convertible
portion of the Avenue Loan, while $418,000 was allocated to the convertible portion of the Avenue Loan. Aggregate debt discount amortization of $0.2 million was recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2022, including $159,000 related to the
non-convertible
portion of the Avenue Loan and $35,000 related to the convertible portion of the Avenue Loan. The Company also determined that the convertible portion of the Avenue Loan did not include a beneficial conversion feature, because the effective conversion price exceeded the commitment date market price of the Company’s common stock. Interest expense incurred was $0.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022.
The Avenue Warrant was valued at issuance at $1.3 million using the Black-Scholes option pricing method using the following assumptions:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contractual term (years) |
|
|
5.07 |
|
Expected volatility |
|
|
187.0 |
% |
Risk-free interest rate |
|
|
0.77 |
% |
Expected dividends |
|
|
0.00 |
% |
12