Athenex Announces $225 Million Loan Agreement with Oaktree
June 22 2020 - 8:00AM
Athenex, Inc. (“Athenex” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: ATNX), a
global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery,
development and commercialization of novel therapies for the
treatment of cancer and related conditions, today announced that it
has entered into a $225 million loan agreement with funds managed
by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”), a leading global
investment firm (the “Agreement”). The Company expects the proceeds
from the financing will be used to fund the commercial launch of
oral paclitaxel and encequidar (Oral Paclitaxel), ongoing pipeline
development, refinancing of existing indebtedness, manufacturing
infrastructure, and working capital and general corporate purposes.
The Agreement provides Athenex with up to $225 million of
capital. $100 million is being funded up front, with a portion of
the upfront loan proceeds being used to repay in full the existing
debt facility with the Perceptive Credit Opportunities Fund.
Additional debt tranches of $125 million in aggregate are available
subject to Athenex’s achievement of certain regulatory and
commercial milestones. The loan matures in June 2026. Further
information with respect to the term loan is set forth in a Form
8-K filed by Athenex with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
June 22, 2020.
“We are pleased to have Oaktree as our partner in the continued
pursuit of our mission to deliver innovative cancer treatments to
patients,” said Dr. Johnson Lau, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of Athenex. “This term loan will provide Athenex the
financial flexibility to continue advancing the development and
commercialization of our lead drug candidates. We intend to further
invest in the lifecycle management of Oral Paclitaxel and
additional R&D activities to maximize the potential value of
our product pipeline. This funding will also provide necessary
capital to support our operations as a commercial-stage
biopharmaceutical company. We are grateful to have had the
Perceptive Credit Opportunities Fund as our credit partner to
enable us to build our clinical pipeline.”
Aman Kumar, Managing Director at Oaktree, commented, “We are
excited to be a long-term partner of Athenex by providing financial
support for clinical and commercialization activities. We believe
Oral Paclitaxel and the Orascovery platform could provide important
treatment options for cancer patients around the world.”
Sam Chawla, Portfolio Manager at Perceptive Advisors, added, “We
are delighted that our financing partnership with Athenex has
supported development of the Company’s pipeline and business. We
congratulate Athenex on the tremendous clinical advancements made
with its two key drug candidates. We continue to be a strong
believer in the long-term potential of Athenex and look forward to
seeing the Company grow to the next level as it delivers important
medicines to cancer patients in need.”
Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. and Royalty/Revenue Interest
Capital Advisors LLC served as financial advisors to Athenex and
Cooley LLP served as legal counsel to Athenex. Sullivan &
Cromwell LLP served as legal counsel to Oaktree.
About Athenex, Inc. Founded in
2003, Athenex, Inc. is a global clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company dedicated to becoming a leader in the
discovery, development and commercialization of next generation
drugs for the treatment of cancer. Athenex is organized
around three platforms, including an Oncology Innovation Platform,
a Commercial Platform and a Global Supply Chain Platform. The
Company’s current clinical pipeline is derived from four different
platform technologies: (1) Orascovery, based on P-glycoprotein
inhibitor, (2) Src kinase inhibition, (3) T-cell
receptor-engineered T-cells (TCR-T), and (4) Arginine deprivation
therapy. Athenex’s employees worldwide are dedicated to improving
the lives of cancer patients by creating more active and tolerable
treatments. Athenex has offices
in Buffalo and Clarence, New York; Cranford,
New Jersey; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Hong
Kong; Taipei, Taiwan; multiple locations
in Chongqing, China; Manchester, UK; Guatemala
City, Guatemala and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For more information, please visit www.athenex.com.
About Oaktree Oaktree is a leader among
global investment managers specializing in alternative investments,
with $113 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2020.
The firm emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and
risk-controlled approach to investments in credit, private equity,
real assets and listed equities. The firm has over 950 employees
and offices in 19 cities worldwide. For additional
information, please visit Oaktree’s website
at http://www.oaktreecapital.com/.
Forward Looking StatementsExcept for historical
information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions
contained in this press release are forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are typically identified by terms
such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,”
“expect,” “foresee,” “goal,” “guidance,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,”
“plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “preliminary,” “probable,”
“project,” “promising,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and
similar expressions. Actual results might differ materially from
those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially include: the development stage of our primary clinical
candidates and related risks involved in drug development, clinical
trials, regulation, manufacturing and commercialization; our
reliance on third parties for success in certain areas of Athenex’s
business; our history of operating losses and need to raise
additional capital to continue as a going concern; risks and
uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential
impact on our operations, cash flow and financial condition; our
ability to integrate CIDAL’s assets into our existing operations;
competition; intellectual property risks; risks relating to doing
business internationally and in China; the uncertainty of when, if
at all, we will be able to resume full API production operations in
Chongqing; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time
in our SEC filings, copies of which are available for free in the
Investor Relations section of our website at
http://ir.athenex.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=254495&p=irol-sec or upon
request from our Investor Relations Department. All information
provided in this release is as of the date hereof and we assume no
obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking
statements, except as required by law.
CONTACTS Athenex, Inc.: Randoll Sze Chief
Financial Officer Email: RandollSze@athenex.com
Jacqueline Li Corporate Development and Investor Relations
Email: JacquelineLi@athenex.com
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