SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar Therapeutics
(Nasdaq: NKTR) today announced the closing of a direct private
placement of $250 million of 7.75%
Senior Secured Notes Due in 2020 with investment vehicles managed
by affiliates of TPG Special Situations Partners ("TSSP"), the
dedicated special situations and credit platform with over
$12 billion of assets under
management, and part of TPG, a leading global private investment
firm. Nektar used a portion of the proceeds from
the 7.75% Senior Secured Notes to redeem all of its currently
outstanding $125 million of 12.0%
Senior Secured Notes due in 2017.
"This transaction significantly reduced our cost of borrowing
and avoided the dilutive effect of an equity or convertible debt
offering," said Howard Robin,
President and CEO. "We have strengthened our financial position and
now expect to have greater than $305
million in cash and equivalents at the end of 2015."
Nektar had approximately $280
million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2015. The company reiterates its
financial guidance for 2015 net use of cash of approximately
$63 million, excluding this financing
transaction.
The 7.75% notes are callable by Nektar beginning in October 2017, subject to certain prepayment
premiums and conditions. The Senior Secured Notes are not subject
to financial performance targets. The offer and sale of the notes
is exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act
of 1933. For further details on the terms and conditions of
the Senior Secured Notes, please refer to the Form 8-K filed today
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Senior Secured Notes and related note guarantees have not
been registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or
sold in the United States absent
registration or an applicable exemption from registration
requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to
sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy such notes or note
guarantees and is issued in accordance Rule 135c under the
Securities Act.
Sidley Austin LLP acted as counsel to Nektar. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP and Mintz Levin
Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC served as legal advisors to
TSSP.
About TPG Special Situations Partners
TSSP, with over $12 billion of assets
under management as of June 30, 2015,
is the dedicated special situations and credit platform of
TPG, a leading global private investment firm with approximately
$75 billion of assets under
management and 17 offices around the world. TSSP has extensive
experience with highly complex, global public and private
investments executed through primary originations, secondary market
purchases and restructurings. Since its inception, TSSP has
invested in the healthcare space including working with companies
and academic institutions on royalty monetization transactions,
debt financings, late stage clinical trial fundings, and other
healthcare related financings.
About Nektar
Nektar Therapeutics has a robust R&D pipeline in pain,
oncology, hemophilia and other therapeutic areas. In the area of
pain, Nektar has an exclusive worldwide license agreement
with AstraZeneca for MOVANTIK™ (naloxegol), the
first FDA-approved once-daily oral peripherally-acting
mu-opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA) medication for the treatment
of opioid-induced constipation (OIC), in adult patients with
chronic, non-cancer pain. The product is also approved in
the European Union as MOVENTIG® (naloxegol) and is
indicated for adult patients with OIC who have had an inadequate
response to laxatives. The AstraZeneca agreement also includes
NKTR-119, an earlier stage development program that is a
co-formulation of MOVANTIK and an opioid. NKTR-181, a wholly-owned
mu-opioid analgesic molecule for chronic pain conditions, is in
Phase 3 development. NKTR-171, a wholly-owned new sodium channel
blocker being developed as an oral therapy for the treatment of
peripheral neuropathic pain, is in Phase 1 clinical development. In
hemophilia, ADYNOVATE™ [Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant)], a
longer-acting PEGylated Factor VIII therapeutic has been filed for
approval in the U.S. by partner Baxalta Inc. In
anti-infectives, Amikacin Inhale is in Phase 3 studies conducted
by Bayer Healthcare as an adjunctive treatment for
intubated and mechanically ventilated patients with Gram-negative
pneumonia.
Nektar's technology has enabled nine approved products in
the U.S. or Europe through partnerships with leading
biopharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca's MOVANTIK™,
UCB's Cimzia® for Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, Roche's
PEGASYS® for hepatitis C and Amgen's Neulasta® for neutropenia.
Nektar is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional operations
in Huntsville, Alabama and Hyderabad, India. Further information about the company
and its drug development programs and capabilities may be found
online at http://www.nektar.com.
MOVANTIK™ is a trademark and MOVENTIG® is a registered trademark
of the AstraZeneca group of companies.
ADYNOVATE is a trademark of Baxalta Inc.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words
such as: "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "expect," "may,"
"will" and similar references to future periods. Examples of
forward-looking statements include, among others, statements
regarding the strength of our cash position; our financial
guidance for 2015; and the value and potential of certain drug
candidates being developed by us and our collaboration
partners. Forward-looking statements are neither historical
facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are
based only on information currently available to us and speak only
as of today. Because forward-looking statements relate to the
future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and
changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of
which are outside of our control. Our actual results may
differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking
statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these
forward-looking statements. Important factors that could
cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated
in the forward-looking statements include, among others, (i) our
financial projections for 2015 are subject to the significant risk
of unplanned cash receipt short-falls, unplanned or increased
expenses, any of which could significantly and adversely affect our
actual 2015 net use of cash and year-end cash position, (ii) the
7.75% Senior Secured Notes include a number of covenants and
conditions and, in certain cases, if we fail to comply with these
covenants and conditions, the maturity date of the Senior Secured
Notes could be accelerated and penalties and premiums could apply,
(iii) our drug candidates and those of our collaboration partners
are in various stages of clinical development and the risk of
failure is high and can unexpectedly occur at any stage prior to
regulatory approval for numerous reasons including safety and
efficacy findings even after positive findings in preclinical and
clinical studies, (iv) certain other important risks and
uncertainties set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 6, 2015 and our Form 8-K filed
today. We undertake no obligation to update any
forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time, whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise.
CONTACT:
For Nektar Therapeutics:
Susie Kim, Argot Partners
212-600-1902 (investors)
Nadia Hasan, BrewLife 212-257-6738
(media)
TPG Media Relations
Luke Barrett, 212-601-4752
TPG External Affairs lbarrett@tpg.com
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SOURCE Nektar Therapeutics