PUBLICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 14 OF THE BELGIAN LAW OF 2 MAY 2007 REGARDING THE PUBLICATION OF MAJOR SHAREHOLDINGS (...
April 19 2018 - 12:06AM
REGULATED INFORMATION
GHENT, Belgium, 19 April 2018 - Ablynx
[Euronext Brussels and Nasdaq: ABLX] today announced, in
accordance with Article 14 of the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007
regarding the publication of major shareholdings in issuers whose
securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market (the
"Transparency Law"), that it received a notification of
shareholdings from Bank of America Corporation on 16 April
2018.
Bank of America Corporation (taking into account
the holdings of its subsidiary undertakings) notified Ablynx that
it has downward crossed the 3% threshold of total voting rights of
Ablynx since 10 April 2018.
The notification contains the following
information:
- Reason for the notification:
- acquisition or disposal of financial instruments that are
treated as voting securities
- downward crossing of the lowest threshold
- Notification by: a parent undertaking or a controlling
person
- Persons subject to the notification requirement: Bank of
America Corporation, Wilmington, DE, USA
- Date on which threshold is crossed: 10 April 2018
- Threshold that is crossed: 3%
- Denominator: 75,253,667
- Details of the notification: no details required when
crossing the lowest threshold
- Chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding
is effectively being held: Bank of America, National
Association, Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corporation and
Merrill Lynch Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated are
controlled by Bank of America Corporation. Bank of America
Corporation is not a controlled entity.
More
information is provided in the transparency notification. Full
versions of the transparency notifications are available on Ablynx
website, under the section Investors.
The Articles of the Association of Ablynx NV
provide for shareholders notification threshold of 3%, 5% or a
multiple of 5% of the total number of existing voting rights.
About Ablynx
Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in
the development of Nanobodies, proprietary therapeutic proteins
based on single-domain antibody fragments, which combine the
advantages of conventional antibody drugs with some of the features
of small-molecule drugs. Ablynx is dedicated to creating new
medicines which will make a real difference to society. Today, the
Company has more than 45 proprietary and partnered programmes in
development in various therapeutic areas including inflammation,
haematology, immuno-oncology, oncology and respiratory disease. The
Company has collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical companies
including AbbVie; Boehringer Ingelheim; Eddingpharm; Merck &
Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA; Merck KGaA; Novo Nordisk;
Sanofi and Taisho Pharmaceuticals. The Company is headquartered in
Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on
www.ablynx.com.
On 29 January 2018, Sanofi made an offer to
acquire all of Ablynx's outstanding ordinary shares (including
shares represented by American Depository Shares (ADSs), warrants
and convertible bonds) at a price of €45 per share, which
represents an aggregate equity value of approximately €3.9 billion.
The proposed transaction was unanimously approved by both the
Sanofi and Ablynx Board of Directors. The initial tender offer
commenced on 4 April 2018 and will expire on 4 May 2018, subject to
extension. Sanofi has published an offer document in which it set
out the full details of its tender offer, and the Board of
Directors of Ablynx published a response memorandum ('memorie van
antwoord'), in which it set out its position on the tender
offer.
For more information, please
contactAblynx:Dr Edwin MosesCEOt: +32 (0)9
262 00 07m: +32 (0)473 39 50 68e: edwin.moses@ablynx.com
Lies VannesteDirector Investor Relationst: +32 (0)9
262 01 37m: +32 (0)498 05 35 79 e:
lies.vanneste@ablynx.com
Follow us on Twitter @AblynxABLX
Ablynx media relations:Consilium Strategic
CommunicationsMary-Jane Elliott, Philippa Gardner, Sukaina
Virjit: +44 (0)20 3709 5700e:
ablynx@consilium-comms.com
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer KatcherDan
Katcher or Joseph Salat: +1 212-355-4449
- pdf version of the press release.pdf