Arix Bioscience
plc
Imara prices
Nasdaq IPO
- Fifth public listing of an Arix portfolio company
- Arix invests $3.0 million (£2.3
million)[1] in the IPO to retain a stake of 9.4% in
Imara
- The new total value of Arix’s shareholding in Imara is
$24.9 million (£19.4
million)[1]; this represents a cumulative revaluation of
£5.7 million (4.2p per share) on total cash invested in Imara by
Arix
LONDON, 12 March 2020: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE:ARIX)
("Arix"), a global venture capital company focused on investing in
and building breakthrough biotech companies, today notes that its
portfolio company, Imara Inc. (“Imara”), has announced the pricing
of its initial public offering of 4,700,000 shares of common stock
at a public offering price of $16.00
per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $75.2 million. In addition, Imara has granted the
underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to
705,000 additional shares of common stock. All of the shares
are being offered by Imara. Imara’s common stock is expected to
begin trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on 12 March 2020 under the ticker symbol “IMRA”.
The IPO resulted in an £4.3 million[1] (3.1p per
share) increase in the value of Arix’s existing holding in Imara,
which was valued at £10.7 million at 31
December 2019. Additionally, Arix has agreed to invest
$3.0 million (£2.3
million)[1] in the IPO to retain a total stake of
9.4% in Imara (amounting to 1,554,558 shares of common stock),
giving a total new valuation of £19.4 million, compared to a cost
of £13.7 million[2]. Mark
Chin, Arix Investment Director, will continue to serve on
Imara’s board.
Imara expects to use the net proceeds from the IPO to advance
development of its lead product candidate, IMR-687, for the
treatment of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and
beta-thalassemia and for working capital and other general
corporate purposes, including potential pipeline expansion.
Joe
Anderson, CEO of Arix, commented:
“Imara’s lead candidate IMR-687 has potential to transform
outcomes for people living with sickle cell disease by working on
both the white-cell and red-cell aspects of the disease. This
financing is an important milestone for Imara, with the company
planning to use proceeds to advance clinical development of IMR-687
in both sickle cell disease and thalassemia.”
Cost of investment at 31 December
2019 |
£9.3m |
|
|
Arix valuation at 31 December
2019 |
£10.7m |
Arix Series B Tranche 2 investment –
February 2020 |
£2.1m |
Uplift of existing stake at IPO
(including FX) |
£4.3m |
Arix participation in IPO |
£2.3m |
Total Arix Valuation |
£19.4m |
A registration statement relating to these securities has been
filed with and declared effective by the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. This announcement does not constitute an offer
to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, 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. Any offers, solicitations or
offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in
accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended.
The securities referred to in this release are to be offered
only by means of a prospectus. When available, copies of the final
prospectus can be obtained from Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180
Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New
York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Dept.; Citigroup Global
Markets Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island
Avenue, Edgewood, New York, 11717
or by telephone at (800) 831-9146; or SVB Leerink LLC, One Federal
Street, 37th Floor, Boston,
Massachusetts, 02110, Attention: Syndicate Department, by
telephone at (800) 808-7525, ext. 6218, or by email at
syndicate@svbleerink.com.
[ENDS]
Enquiries
For more information on Arix, please contact:
Arix Bioscience plc
Charlotte Parry, Head of Investor
Relations
+44 (0)20 7290 1072
charlotte@arixbioscience.com
Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur, Shabnam
Bashir
+44 (0)20 3714 1787
optimum.arix@optimumcomms.com
This announcement includes
information that is inside information as defined in Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No.596/2014.The person responsible
for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of
Arix Bioscience plc is Robert Lyne,
General Counsel.
About Arix Bioscience plc
Arix Bioscience plc is a global venture capital company focused
on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies around
cutting edge advances in life sciences. We collaborate with
exceptional entrepreneurs and provide the capital, expertise and
global networks to help accelerate their ideas into important new
treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to bring
this exciting growth phase of our industry to a broader range of
investors.
Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London
Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit
www.arixbioscience.com
About Imara
Imara Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated
to developing and commercializing novel therapeutics to treat
patients suffering from rare inherited genetic disorders of
hemoglobin, known as hemoglobinopathies. Imara is currently
advancing IMR-687, a highly selective, potent small molecule
inhibitor of PDE9 that is an oral, once-a-day, potentially
disease-modifying treatment for sickle cell disease and
beta-thalassemia. IMR-687 is being designed to have a multimodal
mechanism of action that acts on red blood cells, white blood
cells, adhesion mediators and other cell types.
[[1]] At exchange rate on 12 March
2020 (GBP/USD 1.2820)
[2] Cash cost of Arix at prevailing exchange rate at time of
investment