Crossject launches reserved capital increase and warrants issuance
for an aggregate amount of at least €7m
-
CROSSJECT INTENDS TO AMEND THE HEIGHTS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT,
INC. (“HEIGHTS”) BONDS CONVERTIBLE INTO NEW SHARES OR REPAYABLE,
UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS
DIJON, FRANCE, December
10, 2024 – 7:15 p.m. (CET) – Crossject (ISIN:
FR0011716265; Euronext: ALCJ), a specialty pharma company
developing medicines harnessing its unique, award-winning
needle-free ZENEO® auto-injector to deliver life-saving medicines
in emergency situations, has been in discussions with investors
regarding a private placement comprising an issue of new ordinary
shares and warrants for a total gross amount of at least EUR 7
million. Crossject (“Crossject” or the
“Company”) has engaged Maxim Group LLC to act as
lead placement agent and Invest Securities to act as co-placement
agent.
The transaction would comprise (i) an issuance
of new ordinary shares (the “New Shares”) via a
capital increase (the “Capital Increase”) reserved
to a specified category of investors (as further described in the
11th resolution of the Annual General Shareholders’
Meeting held on June 27, 2024 (the “General
Meeting”)), and (ii) the concurrent private placement of
warrants (the “Warrants”) giving the right to
subscribe to new ordinary shares (the “Warrants
Issuance” and, together with the Capital Increase, the
“Transaction”).
The proceeds of the Transaction are expected to
result in a total cumulative gross amount of at least
EUR 7 million in immediate new funding for the Company.
The Company could receive further proceeds in the event that the
Warrants are exercised by their holders. The Company reserves the
right to modify any aspect of the Transaction.
The Capital Increase is being carried out
pursuant to the delegation granted by the General Meeting under its
11th resolution, and used by the Management Board by a
decision dated December 10, 2024 and after the prior authorization
of the Supervisory Board on December 10, 2024, and is reserved to
the specific category of investors, defined under 11th
resolution of the General Meeting (mostly entities “investing or
having invested on a regular basis in the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology, medical technology or innovative technology
sectors”).
The Warrants Issuance is being carried out
pursuant to the delegation granted by the General Meeting under its
9th resolution, and used by the Management Board by a
decision dated December 10, 2024 and after the prior authorization
of the Supervisory Board on December 10, 2024, by means of a
private placement governed by 1° of Article L. 411-2 of the French
Monetary and Financial Code (i.e., an offering to certain qualified
investors and/or to a restricted circle of investors acting for
their own account).
The Company expects to announce further details
regarding the Transaction when such details are available in one or
more subsequent press releases.
The Company will make an application for the
admission to trading of the New Shares (which are of the same class
as the existing ordinary shares of the Company) on Euronext Growth
under the same ISIN code FR0011716265. The New Shares are expected
to be admitted to trading on or about December 13, 2024. The
Warrants will be subject to an application for admission to trading
on Euronext Growth under a separate ISIN code to be allocated.
In parallel to the Transaction, the Company has
agreed with Heights Capital Management (“Heights”)
on potential amendments of the terms and conditions of the existing
convertible bonds (the “Amendments”) issued to an
entity advised by Heights (the “Investor”) in
February 2024. The Amendments, detailed below, primarily include
(i) the issuance of a second tranche of approximately €2.5 million,
no longer conditional upon the ZEPIZURE® Emergency Use
Authorization by the FDA, and (ii) an extension of the maturity of
the convertible bonds to December 28, 2027. The Amendments are
conditional upon (i) the completion of the Transaction, in which
Heights will contribute €2 million, (ii) the Transaction raising a
minimum of €7 million in gross proceeds and (iii) Gemmes Venture,
Crossject’s historical cornerstone investor, contributing a minimum
of €2 million in the Transaction.
Reasons for the Transaction and use of
proceeds
Prior to the completion of the Transaction, the
Company expects, based on its cash position and on upcoming
financing from its U.S. sponsor and other no dilutive initiatives,
to have sufficient resources to reach its regulatory manufacturing
milestones for ZEPIZURE® in early 2025, which would be final key
steps toward a filing for an EUA with the FDA soon afterwards.
With its ambition to directly commercialize
ZEPIZURE® in the United States, Crossject has entered into a new
phase in its development as a specialty pharmaceuticals company.
Crossject has been focusing on the preparation of the EUA marketing
authorization applications for ZEPIZURE®. The Company’s resources
have been concentrated on that latter regulatory goal, while
continuing its investments in its manufacturing facilities and in
the development of its other product candidates.
In this context, the Company intends to use the
net proceeds of the Transaction as follows:
- Approximately 50% will be allocated
to the further development of ZEPIZURE®, including the assumption
of related operating costs that are incurred in complement to the
R&D costs reimbursed by its U.S. sponsor;
- Approximately 20% will be allocated
to ongoing investment activities in its manufacturing facilities,
the priority use of which will be to meet ZEPIZURE® development
needs and initial demand;
- The rest, or approximately 30%,
will be used to finance the R&D for its other projects, ZENEO®
Hydrocortisone and ZENEO® Adrenaline, certain reimbursements to its
financial creditors, as well as for general and administrative
expenses purposes as well as business development expenses.
With a Transaction that would result in a total
gross amount of at least EUR 7 million in immediate new funding for
the Company, prior to any exercise of any Warrant, the Company
expects that its net working capital would be sufficient to meet
its obligations until the end of S1 2025, allowing the Company to
reach its main EUA regulatory milestone for ZEPIZURE. The Company
is exploring dilutive and non-dilutive financing complements in
order to extend its cash runway until the initial payments from its
U.S. sponsor are received, such payments being expected in Q3 2025.
The Company could also receive additional cash proceeds from the
exercise of Warrants to fulfil these additional financing
needs.
Key characteristics of the
Transaction
Capital Increase
The New Shares will be issued through a capital increase without
shareholders’ preferential subscription right reserved to a
specified category of investors (as further described in the
resolution) pursuant to the 11th resolution of the
General Meeting.
In accordance with the terms of the
11th resolution of the General Meeting, the number of
New Shares issued as part of the Capital Increase shall not exceed
9,000,000 New Shares, with a par value of €0.10 per share, which
would represent approximately 17.43% of the outstanding share
capital of the Company upon completion of the Transaction on a
non-diluted basis. The subscription price per share will be
determined in accordance with the 11th resolution of the
General Meeting and will be at least equal to the weighted average
by volume of the share prices over the fifteen (15) trading days
preceding the date the issue price is set; it being specified that
this weighted average may be reduced by a discount of no more than
20%.
Warrants Issuance
The Warrants will be issued pursuant to 9th resolution
of the General Meeting, by means of an offer governed by 1° of
Article L. 411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code (i.e.,
offering to qualified investors and/or to a restricted circle of
investors acting for their own account).
The Warrants will be issued at their fair market
value calculated based on the Black Scholes model. The subscription
price and exercise price of the Warrants will be determined in
accordance with the 9th resolution of the General
Meeting, and the amount to be received by the Company (including
the issue price of the Warrants) will be at least equal to the
weighted average by the volumes of the share prices over the thirty
(30) trading days preceding the date the issue price is set; it
being specified that the weighted average may be reduced by a
discount of no more than 20%.
The number of ordinary shares issued upon
exercise of the Warrants shall not exceed 9,000,000 ordinary
shares.
The Warrants will be freely transferable subject
to applicable laws and regulations. Application will be made for
the listing of the Warrants on Euronext Growth promptly after the
issuance date.
The final terms and conditions of the Warrants
will depend on the result of the discussions with investors.
Other characteristics of the
Transaction
The Company’s existing shareholder, Gemmes Venture, which holds a
26.04% stake in the Company on a non-diluted basis has informed the
Company of its intention to subscribe in the Transaction for at
least €2 million. In accordance with the Supervisory Board’s
internal rules, the representative of Gemmes Venture did not
participate in the deliberations of the Supervisory Board relating
to the Transaction.
Heights has informed the Company of its
intention to subscribe in the Transaction for €2 million under
certain conditions (see below).
The Transaction will not require the publication
of a prospectus pursuant to Regulation (UE) 2017/1129 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 (the
“Prospectus Regulation”).
Amendments, subject to conditions, to
the first tranche of convertible bonds and issue of a second
tranche
In a press release dated February 27, 2024, the
Company announced that it had obtained financing from the Investor,
comprising a first tranche of 70 amortizable bonds convertible into
new shares (the “OCAs”) for an aggregate principal
amount of €7 million, and an optional second tranche for a maximum
principal amount of €5 million, subject to the satisfaction of
certain conditions precedent, in particular the obtention of
authorization from the US FDA of an Emergency Use Authorization for
its lead product candidate ZEPIZURE®, with the view to delivering
the first units to the Strategic National Stockpile in connection
with the collaboration between Crossject and its U.S. sponsor. The
first tranche of OCAs was issued on February 28, 2024.
Heights (the “Investor”) intends to subscribe
for €2 million in the Transaction announced today, under the
conditions that:
- the amount
raised in the Transaction is a minimum of €7 million,
- Gemmes Venture
subscribes for a minimum of €2 million in the Transaction.
Subject to these conditions and the Transaction
being definitively completed, the Company would convene an
Extraordinary General Meeting to be held no later than January 31,
2025 to vote on the following resolutions:
-
A resolution amending the terms and conditions of the OCAs issued
on February 28, 2024 in order to:
-
extend the maturity date of the OCAs from February 28, 2027 to
December 28, 2027;
-
reduce the bi-monthly amortization schedule from €6,000 to €4,500
per bond;
-
amend the OCAs holder’s right to request early repayment of up to
two amortization schedule instalments (no longer subordinated to
the case of payment by the Company of the last amortization
schedule instalment in stocks);
-
amend the current conversion price of the OCAs, which will be equal
to the lower of (i) the subscription price per New Share in the
Capital Increase (for the avoidance of doubt, excluding the
Warrants) plus 20% of the subscription price per Warrant in the
Warrant Issuance and (ii) 110% of the Market Value1 on
the new tranche issue date (which may not be less than € 1);
and
-
amend the period during which the conversion price may be adjusted
in the event of the issue of securities for a gross amount of at
least € 5 million (extended to February 28, 2027 inclusive).
In the event this resolution is not passed at
the Extraordinary General Meeting to be held no later than January
31, 2025, the Company has undertaken to convene a second
Extraordinary General Meeting to vote on this resolution, with such
meeting to be held on or prior to March 31, 2025.
- A resolution to allow the issue of
a new tranche of OCAs, which would upon issue be fungible with the
first tranche of OCAs, it being specified that such issue would not
be conditional on obtaining FDA approval. The new tranche of OCAs
would amount to a principal amount of approximately € 2.5
million.
Subject to the Extraordinary General Meeting
voting in favor of these resolutions2 (in which Heights
will not participate), the Amendments to the first tranche of OCAs
and the issue of the second tranche of OCAs would take place within
10 calendar days of the said Meeting.
The Amendments to the first tranche of OCAs and
the issue of the second tranche of OCAs will not require the
publication of a prospectus pursuant to the Prospectus
Regulation.
Information available to the public and
risk factors
Risks related to the
Transaction
Readers are invited to consider the following risks: (i)
shareholders that do not participate in the Transaction will see
their interest in the Company's share capital diluted following the
Transaction and the issue of the new shares, or in the event of a
new capital increase to finance the Company’s growth, (ii) the
potential sale by the Company's main shareholders of a significant
number of shares in the Company, could have an unfavorable impact
on the Company's share price, (iii) the market price for the
Company's shares may fluctuate and fall below the subscription
price of the shares issued pursuant to the Capital Increase and of
the exercise price of the Warrants, and (iv) the volatility and
liquidity of the Company's shares may fluctuate significantly.
General risks
Detailed information regarding the Company, including its business,
financial information, results, prospects and related risk factors
are contained in the Company’s 2023 Annual Report and 2024
Half-Year Report available on the website of the Company
(www.crossject.com).
Investors are encouraged to read the risk
factors included in the 2023 Annual Report.
In addition, the financing agreement of the OCA
to be concluded with the Investor would include repayment
clauses:
Crossject will submit a resolution to a vote at an Extraordinary
General Meeting (which must be held no later than January 31, 2025,
or, failing that, March 31, 2025. Should these resolutions not be
passed, the Investor shall be entitled to require Crossject to
repurchase all or part of the OCAs at a price equal to the greater
of the following amounts: (i) 102% of the principal amount
outstanding and (ii) 120% of parity, in each case together with
accrued but unpaid interest thereon. This put option will be
exercisable within 30 days from the date of the announcement of the
votes of the second general meeting.
This press release does not constitute a
prospectus under the Prospectus Regulation (as defined below) or an
offer of securities to the public.
*****
About Crossject
Crossject SA (Euronext: ALCJ;
www.crossject.com) is an emerging specialty pharma company. It is
in advanced regulatory development for ZEPIZURE®, an epileptic
rescue therapy, for which it has a $60 million contract with the
U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
(BARDA). ZEPIZURE® is based on the Company’s award-winning
needle-free autoinjector ZENEO®, designed to enable patients and
untrained caregivers to easily and instantly deliver emergency
medication via intramuscular injection on bare skin or even through
clothing. The Company’s other products in development include
rescue therapies for allergic shocks, adrenal insufficiencies,
opioid overdose and asthma attacks.
Contacts
Investors
Natasha Drapeau
Cohesion Bureau
+41 76 823 75 27
natasha.drapeau@cohesionbureau.com |
Media
Sophie Baumont
Cohesion Bureau
+33 6 27 74 74 49
Sophie.baumont@cohesionbureau.com |
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain certain
forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes its
expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, all statements
other than statements of historical fact included in this press
release about future events are subject to, without limitation, (i)
change without notice, (ii) factors beyond the Company’s control,
(iii) clinical trial results, (iv) regulatory requirements, (v)
increased manufacturing costs, (vi) market access, (vii)
competition and (viii) potential claims on its products or
intellectual property. These statements may include, without
limitation, any statements preceded by, followed by or including
words such as “target,” “believe,” “expect,” “aim,” “intend,”
“may,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “objective,” “project,”
“will,” “can have,” “likely,” “should,” “would,” “could” and other
words and terms of similar meaning or the negative thereof.
Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and
uncertainties beyond the Company’s control that could cause the
Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be
materially different from the expected results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. A description of these risks, contingencies and
uncertainties can be found in the Company’s 2023 Annual Report.
Furthermore, these forward-looking statements, forecasts and
estimates are made only as of the date of this press release.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any obligation to
update any forward-looking statements, forecasts or estimates to
reflect any subsequent changes that the Company becomes aware of,
except as required by law.
This press release has been prepared in French
and English. In the event of any differences between the texts, the
French language version shall prevail.
DISCLAIMER
This press release and the information
contained herein do not constitute either an offer to sell or
purchase, or the solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase,
securities of Crossject.
No communication or information in respect
of the offering by the Company of its shares may be distributed to
the public in any jurisdiction where registration or approval is
required. No steps have been taken or will be taken in any
jurisdiction where such steps would be required. The offering or
subscription of shares may be subject to specific legal or
regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. The Company takes
no responsibility for any violation of any such restrictions by any
person.
This announcement does not, and shall not,
in any circumstances, constitute a public offering, a sale offer
nor an invitation to the public in connection with any offer. The
distribution of this document may be restricted by law in certain
jurisdictions. Persons into whose possession this document comes
are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such
restrictions.
With respect to the Member States of the
European Economic Area (including France) (the “Member States”), no
action has been or will be undertaken to make an offer to the
public of the securities referred to herein requiring a publication
of a prospectus in any Member State. As a result, the securities of
the Company may not and will not be offered in any Member State
except in accordance with the exemptions set forth in Article 1(4)
of the Prospectus Regulation, or under any other circumstances
which do not require the publication by the Company of a prospectus
pursuant to Article 1 of the Prospectus Regulation and/or to
applicable regulations of that relevant Member State.
For the purposes of the provision above, the
expression “offer to the public” in relation to any shares of the
Company in any Member State means the communication in any form and
by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer
and any securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to
decide to purchase any securities, as the same may be varied in
that Member State. The expression “Prospectus Regulation” means
Regulation (EU) 2017/1129, as amended from time to time, and
includes any relevant implementing measure in the Member
State.
This document does not constitute an offer
to the public in France and the securities referred to in this
document can only be offered or sold in France pursuant to Article
L. 411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code (Code monétaire
et financier). In addition, in accordance with the authorisation
granted by the Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting dated June 27,
2024, only the persons pertaining to the categories specified in
the 9th and
11th resolutions
of such meeting may subscribe to the offering.
This document does not constitute an offer
of securities for sale nor the solicitation of an offer to purchase
securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction where
such offer may be restricted. Securities may not be offered or sold
in the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities
Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities
Act”) or an exemption from registration under the
Securities Act. The securities of the Company have not been and
will not be registered under the Securities Act, and the Company
does not intend to make a public offering of its securities in the
United States.
The distribution of this document (which
term shall include any form of communication) is restricted
pursuant to Section 21 (Restrictions on "financial promotion") of
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
(“FMSA”). This document is only
being distributed to and directed at persons who (i) are outside
the United Kingdom, (ii) have professional experience in matters
relating to investments and who fall within the definition of
investment professionals in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services
and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended)
(the “Financial Promotion
Order”), (iii) are persons falling within Article
49(2)(a) to (d) (high net worth companies, unincorporated
associations, etc.) of the Financial Promotion Order or (iv) are
persons to whom this communication may otherwise lawfully be
communicated (all such persons referred to in (i), (ii), (iii) and
(iv) above together being referred to as “Relevant
Persons”). This document must not be acted on or
relied on in the United Kingdom by persons who are not Relevant
Persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this
document relates is available only to Relevant Persons, and will be
engaged in only with such persons in the United Kingdom.
This document may not be distributed,
directly, in or into the United States of America, Canada,
Australia or Japan.
1 Corresponding to the lowest daily
Volume-Weighted Average Price for the stocks comprised in the
Market Price Observation Period in respect of such market price
relevant date, where “Market Price Observation Period” means, in
respect of any market price relevant date (a) (if such market price
relevant date is a trading day) the period of six (6) consecutive
trading days ending on (and including) such market price relevant
date or (b) (if such market price relevant date is not a trading
day) the period of five (5) consecutive trading days ending on (and
including) the trading day immediately preceding such market price
relevant date
2 Gemmes Venture, Crossject's
reference shareholder, will undertake to vote in favor of these
resolutions.
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