PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.,
Aug. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Inovio
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) announced today the closing of
a private placement in the form of convertible bonds with an
aggregate principal amount of 18 billion
Korean Won (KRW) (approximately USD $15 million based on the current exchange rate)
issued to institutional investors led by Korea Investment Partners
(KIP), a global venture capital and private equity firm based in
Seoul, Korea, with additional
offices in Shanghai, China and
Sunnyvale, California. Inovio
expects to use the proceeds of the investment for the continued
advancement of development activities for its clinical-stage
product pipeline and for working capital and other general
corporate purposes. Inovio today also announced its intent to
pursue a secondary listing of its securities on the KOSDAQ Market
of the Korea Exchange (KOSDAQ) in the form of Korean Depositary
Receipts (KDRs).
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's
President and CEO, said, "We are pleased to have received this
investment from fundamental, long-only institutional investors led
by KIP and we appreciate their conviction. This additional funding
will help Inovio advance a number of our clinical programs toward
commercialization as we continue to strengthen Inovio on becoming
the 'go-to' immunotherapeutic solution provider for all major
HPV-related conditions with VGX-3100 (Phase 3), MEDI0457 (Phase 2
with AstraZeneca) and INO-3107."
Dr. Kim added, "The Korean capital market represents an
expanding opportunity for Inovio to secure a new and attractive
source of capital. Given our history of strategic partnerships and
clinical development in Asia,
especially in Korea, Inovio is well-positioned to tap into this new
source of capital. This opportunity will also expand Inovio's
presence in Asia and further our
goal of becoming a global contributor to the fight against cancer
and emerging infectious diseases."
Mahnsoon Hwang, Senior Managing Director specializing in
Biotechnology and Healthcare for KIP, said, "We are excited by
Inovio's diverse portfolio and growth prospects of its
transformative DNA Immunotherapy platform. Given the exponential
growth that we have seen over the last couple of years in Korea for
anti-cancer drugs and immunotherapies, we believe Inovio is
well-positioned to capture the market opportunity, while continuing
to build on its already established Asian partnerships."
The bonds, which are unsecured obligations of Inovio, were
issued on August 1, 2019 and will
accrue interest at a coupon rate of 1.00% per annum, payable
quarterly. The bonds will mature on July 31,
2024, unless earlier converted or repurchased. Starting
August 1, 2020, the bonds will be
convertible at any time after the first anniversary of the issue
date until the date that is one month prior to the maturity date.
Upon conversion, Inovio will deliver KDRs, assuming Inovio has KDRs
listed on KOSDAQ at that time, or otherwise shares of common stock,
if KDRs are not listed on KOSDAQ at that time. The initial
conversion rate will be 211.0595 shares per KRW1,000,000 principal amount of bonds
(equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately USD
$4.00 per share based on the exchange
rates as of July 30, 2019), subject
to adjustment upon the occurrence of specified events. The bonds
will be subject to repurchase by Inovio at the option of the
noteholders from and including July 31,
2022 up to the maturity date at a repurchase price equal to
the principal of the bonds to be repurchased plus a premium on such
bonds in order to ensure an internal rate of return with respect to
such bonds of 6.00%.
This press release shall not constitute, nor form any part of,
an offer to sell, the solicitation of an offer to buy or
solicitation activity relating to any of the securities mentioned
herein (including, for the avoidance of doubt, any securities
convertible from the convertible bonds), nor shall there be any
sale of any such securities (including, for the avoidance of doubt,
any securities convertible from the convertible bonds) in any state
or other jurisdiction (including Korea) in which such offer,
solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or
qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other
jurisdiction (including Korea).
About Korea Investment Partners (KIP)
Korea Investment Partners (KIP), a member of Korea Investment
Holdings, is a Venture Capital firm investing in and promoting
growth of promising companies for the past 30 years. The venture
capital firm operates from global offices situated in Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, and Sunnyvale-California. KIP is managing over 20
funds with a total size over USD $1.5
billion. Every year, KIP invests in about 50 companies from
Korea, China and the U.S. With a
portfolio that spans across 30 years, KIP has managed over 20
private equity funds and invested in over 500 companies.
About Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Inovio is an innovative biotechnology company focused on the
discovery, development, and commercialization of its synthetic DNA
technology targeted against cancers and infectious diseases.
Inovio's proprietary technology platform applies antigen sequencing
and delivery to enable in vivo protein expression, which can
activate potent immune responses to targeted diseases. The
technology has been demonstrated to consistently activate robust
and fully functional T cell and antibody responses against targeted
cancers and pathogens. Inovio's most advanced clinical program,
VGX-3100, is in Phase 3 development for the treatment of
HPV-related cervical pre-cancer. Also in development are Phase 2
immuno-oncology programs targeting HPV-related cancers and
glioblastoma, as well as externally funded platform development
programs in Zika, MERS, Lassa and HIV. Partners and collaborators
include AstraZeneca, Regeneron, Roche/Genentech, ApolloBio
Corporation, GeneOne Life Science, The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI),
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Institutes of
Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
National Cancer Institute, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, Walter Reed
Army Institute of Research, Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC),
The Wistar Institute, and the University of
Pennsylvania. For more information, visit
www.inovio.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements relating to our business, including our expected uses of
proceeds from the sale of the convertible bonds, our plans to
develop DNA-based immunotherapies, our expectations regarding our
research and development programs, including the planned initiation
and conduct of clinical trials and the availability and timing of
data from those trials and our plans to increase our presence in
Asia, including our intentions
relating to a potential listing on KOSDAQ. Actual events or results
may differ from the expectations set forth herein as a result of a
number of factors, including uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical
studies, clinical trials and product development programs, our
ability to access the capital markets in Korea and the availability
of funding, generally, to support continuing research and studies
in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of electroporation
technology as a delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA
immunotherapies, our ability to support our pipeline of SynCon®
active immunotherapy and vaccine products, the ability of our
collaborators to attain development and commercial milestones for
products we license and product sales that will enable us to
receive future payments and royalties, the adequacy of our capital
resources, the availability or potential availability of
alternative therapies or treatments for the conditions targeted by
us or our collaborators, including alternatives that may be more
efficacious or cost effective than any therapy or treatment that we
and our collaborators hope to develop, issues involving product
liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to
them will provide us with meaningful protection from others using
the covered technologies, whether such proprietary rights are
enforceable or defensible or infringe or allegedly infringe on
rights of others or can withstand claims of invalidity and whether
we can finance or devote other significant resources that may be
necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of
corporate expenditures, assessments of our technology by potential
corporate or other partners or collaborators, capital market
conditions, the impact of government healthcare proposals and other
factors set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2018, our
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 and other filings we make from
time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In
addition, our intentions relating to the potential listing on
KOSDAQ remain subject to change and may be affected by market
conditions, regulatory and other considerations, alternative
opportunities and/or other events which may not be under our
control or which may lead us to conclude that it would be
inadvisable to continue pursuing such a listing. There can be no
assurance that any product candidate in our pipeline will be
successfully developed, manufactured or commercialized, that final
results of clinical trials will be supportive of regulatory
approvals required to market products, that the listing on KOSDAQ
will be consummated or that any of the forward-looking information
provided herein will be proven accurate. Forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no
obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be
required by law.
CONTACTS:
Investors:
Ben Matone, 484-362-0076,
ben.matone@inovio.com
Media:
Jeff Richardson, 267-440-4211,
jrichardson@inovio.com
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SOURCE Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.