UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE
14D-9
(Rule
14d-101)
(Amendment No. 5)
Solicitation/Recommendation Statement
Under
Section 14(d)(4) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Antares Pharma, Inc.
(Name of Subject Company)
Antares Pharma, Inc.
(Name of Persons Filing Statement)
Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share
(Title of Class
of Securities)
036642106
(CUSIP Number
of Class of Securities)
Robert F. Apple
President and Chief Executive Officer
100 Princeton South, Suite 300
Ewing, NJ, 08628
(609) 359-3020
(Name, address,
and telephone numbers of person authorized to receive notices and
communications
on behalf of
the persons filing statement)
Copies
to:
Graham
Robinson
Skadden, Arps,
Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
500 Boylston
Street, 23rd Floor
Boston,
Massachusetts 02116
(617)
573-4800
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Faiz
Ahmad
Skadden, Arps,
Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
One Rodney
Square, 920 N. King Street
Wilmington,
Delaware 19801
(302)
651-3000
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☐ |
Check the box if the filing relates solely to preliminary
communications made before the commencement of a tender
offer.
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This Amendment No. 5 (this “Amendment”) amends and supplements the
Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 (as amended
or supplemented from time to time, the “Schedule 14D-9”) filed by Antares
Pharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”) with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on April 26, 2022, relating to
the tender offer by Atlas Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation
(“Purchaser”) and a wholly
owned subsidiary of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., a Delaware
corporation (“Parent”), to
purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock,
par value $0.01 per share (the “Shares”), of the Company for $5.60 per
Share in cash, without interest, and subject to any withholding of
taxes required by applicable legal requirements, upon the terms and
subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, dated
April 26, 2022 (as amended or supplemented from time to time), and
in the related Letter of Transmittal (as amended or supplemented
from time to time).
Except to the extent specifically provided in this Amendment,
the information set forth in the Schedule 14D-9 remains unchanged.
Capitalized terms used, but not otherwise defined, in this
Amendment shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Schedule
14D-9. This Amendment is being filed to reflect certain updates as
set forth below.
Explanatory
Note:
This supplemental information should be read in conjunction
with this Schedule 14D-9 in its entirety. The Company believes that
no supplemental disclosure is required under applicable laws and
that this Schedule 14D-9 disclosed all material information
required to be disclosed therein. However, to avoid the risk that
lawsuits may delay or otherwise adversely affect the Transactions
and to minimize the expense of defending such actions, the Company
wishes to make voluntarily certain supplemental disclosures related
to the proposed Transactions for the purpose of mooting the
allegations in any complaints related to the Transactions, all of
which are set forth below and should be read in conjunction with
this Schedule 14D-9. Nothing in these supplemental disclosures
shall be deemed an admission of the legal necessity or materiality
under applicable laws of any of the disclosures set forth
herein.
ITEM 4. |
THE SOLICITATION OR
RECOMMENDATION
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Item 4 of this Schedule 14D-9 is hereby amended and
supplemented as follows:
The following paragraph replaces the second paragraph in the
“Background of the Offer and the
Merger” section:
“The Company also regularly meets with other specialty
pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical and medical device companies
regarding a variety of topics including potential partnerships,
licensing arrangements, and other strategic transactions. During
these interactions between 2021 and 2022, the Company entered into
confidentiality agreements with three parties that expressed
interest in potential strategic transactions, including Parent. The
confidentiality agreements with two of these parties, Party A (a
private equity firm) and Parent contained standstill and fall away
provisions. No confidentiality agreement prevented the respective
counterparty from making confidential communications to the Company
including, without limitation, a confidential proposal to acquire
the Company or a confidential request to amend or waive certain
provisions of such confidentiality agreement. In 2022, the Company
provided limited non-public due diligence information to Party A
and Parent. Party A did not submit a proposal to acquire the
Company, had engaged in limited due diligence and, based on limited
discussions between the Company and Party A, was viewed by the
Company Board as unlikely to engage in a transaction with the
Company on the same or a similar timeframe as Parent and with a
value and contractual terms and conditions superior to those
contained in the Merger Agreement.”
The following paragraph replaces the twentieth paragraph in
the “Background of the Offer and
the Merger” section:
“On March 24, 2022, a representative of Weil, Gotshal &
Manges LLP, counsel to Parent (“Weil”), sent representatives of Skadden an
initial draft of the Merger Agreement prepared by Weil. Between
March 24, 2022 and April 12, 2022, Skadden and Weil conducted a
number of conference calls and exchanged drafts of the Merger
Agreement at the direction of the Company. Among other items, the
parties negotiated the amount of the termination fee payable in the
event the Company terminated the Merger Agreement to accept a
Superior Offer (as defined in the Merger Agreement) and other
circumstances in which such fee would be payable, the treatment of
outstanding Company equity awards in the proposed transaction and
the treatment of equity incentive awards, which awards would also
be provided to members of the Company’s senior management, that
otherwise would have been granted in June 2022 in the ordinary
course.”
The following paragraph replaces the twenty-first paragraph in
the “Background of the Offer and
the Merger” section:
“On March 29, 2022 and March 30, 2022, representatives of the
Company’s and Parent’s management met in Minnetonka, Minnesota for
a number of in-person meetings, including question and answer
sessions with Company’s management. Mr. Apple and Dr. Torley also
separately discussed the treatment of outstanding Company equity
awards in the proposed transaction and the treatment of equity
incentive awards, which awards would also be provided to members of
the Company’s senior management, that otherwise would have been
granted in June 2022 in the ordinary course.”
The following paragraph replaces the twenty-sixth paragraph in
the “Background of the Offer and
the Merger” section:
“On April 8, 2022, Mr. Apple and
Dr. Torley participated in discussions regarding the treatment of
the Company’s outstanding incentive equity awards and the ability
of the Company to make ordinary course annual incentive equity
awards (or comparable incentive awards) prior to closing, which
awards would also be provided to members of the Company’s senior
management. On April 9, 2022, Mr. Apple participated in additional
discussions with Dr. Torley regarding the treatment of incentive
equity in the Company and Parent’s site visits. On April 10, 2022,
Dr. Torley called Mr. Apple and conveyed that Parent would agree to
full acceleration of all outstanding employee incentive equity
awards prior to closing of the transaction, and settled the
treatment of Company employee equity incentive awards that
otherwise would have been granted to employees in June 2022 in the
ordinary course, including to members of the Company’s senior
management.”
The following disclosure replaces
the eighth paragraph in the “Certain Financial Projections”
section:
“These financial projections were
prepared in February 2022 by the Company’s management based on its
assumptions about the Company’s continued operation as a
standalone, publicly traded company, with respect to the continued
success of the Company’s proprietary and partnered products, and
the development and commercialization of the Company’s product
candidates, including risk and probability adjustments reflecting
the Company’s management good faith assessment as to the
probability of success for the Company’s product candidates and
pipeline programs. These financial projections include assumptions
regarding the continued commercial success of the Company’s
proprietary and partnered products and potential future
collaborations with third parties, and royalties and milestone
payments received in connection with partnered products. The
projections were based on certain internal assumptions regarding
the probability of success associated with sales and marketing of
proprietary products, outgoing regulatory and milestone payments to
third parties for certain proprietary products, pricing, sales
ramp, market growth, market share, competition, patent challenges,
success of clinical trials, research and development expenses,
general and administrative expenses, effective tax rate and
utilization of net operating losses, declines in the cost of goods
and services as the Company’s business shifted towards higher
margin products, increased spending in connection with the launch
of Tlando, ATRS 1901, ATRS 1902 and ATRS 1903, and other relevant
factors related to the Company’s long-range operating plan. These
assumptions include estimated cash, cash equivalents and short-term
investments of $88 million as of March 31, 2022 (which included a
previously disclosed $26 million deferred payment to be received
later in fiscal year 2022), a federal net operating loss
carryforward of $99.9 million as of December 31, 2021 and taxes
based on a 25.7% tax rate. The foregoing is a summary of certain
key assumptions and does not purport to be a comprehensive overview
of all metrics and assumptions included or reflected in the
Management Projections.”
The following disclosure replaces the first sentence of,
including the list of selected companies immediately following, the
first paragraph in the “Opinion
of the Company’s Financial Advisor—Financial Analyses—Selected
Public Companies Analysis” section:
“Jefferies reviewed publicly
available financial, stock market and operating information of the
Company and nine selected publicly traded companies, as noted
below, in the specialty pharmaceutical industry that Jefferies
considered generally relevant for purposes of analysis,
collectively referred to as the selected companies.”
The following disclosure replaces
the first sentence of the third paragraph in the “Opinion of the Company’s Financial
Advisor—Financial Analyses—Selected Public Companies
Analysis” section:
“The overall low to high calendar
year 2022 and calendar year 2023 estimated revenue multiples
observed for the selected companies were 0.9x to 3.6x (with a
median of 2.4x) and 0.8x to 3.0x (with a median of 2.3x),
respectively, as indicated below (individual multiples are
referenced below for informational purposes):”
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2022E Revenue Multiples
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2023E Revenue Multiples
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Anika Therapeutics, Inc.
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1.8x
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1.6x
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Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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3.6x
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3.0x
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Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.
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2.6x
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2.3x
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Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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1.7x
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2.5x
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OptiNose, Inc.
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2.4x
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1.6x
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Radius Health, Inc.
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2.6x
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2.3x
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Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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2.5x
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2.9x
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Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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0.9x
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0.8x
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●
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Xeris Biopharma Holdings, Inc.
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2.4x
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1.7x
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The following disclosure replaces
the first sentence of, including the list of selected transactions
and related information immediately following, the first paragraph
in the “Opinion of the Company’s
Financial Advisor—Financial Analyses— Selected Precedent
Transactions Analysis” section:
“Using publicly available
information, Jefferies reviewed financial data relating to 12
selected transactions, as noted below, that Jefferies viewed as
generally relevant for purposes of analysis as transactions
involving target companies with operations in the specialty
pharmaceutical industry, collectively referred to as the selected
transactions.”
The following disclosure replaces
the first sentence of the third paragraph in the “Opinion of the Company’s Financial
Advisor—Financial Analyses— Selected Precedent Transactions
Analysis” section:
“The overall low to high latest
12 months revenue multiples observed for the selected transactions
was 2.0x to 6.8x (with median of 4.0x), as indicated below
(individual multiples are referenced below for informational
purposes):”
Announcement Date
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Acquiror
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Target
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LTM Revenue
Multiple
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February 2022
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Collegium Pharmaceutical,
Inc.
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BioDelivery Sciences
International, Inc.
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3.4x
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October 2021
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Pacira Biosciences, Inc.
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Flexion Therapeutics, Inc.
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5.5x
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October 2021
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Supernus Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
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Adamas Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
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5.2x
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October 2020
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Covis Group S.à.r.l.
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AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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2.2x
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April 2020
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Supernus Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
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U.S. Worldmeds LLC (CNS
Portfolio)
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2.0x
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March 2019
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Ares Life Sciences |
S.à.r.l
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Stallergenes Greer plc
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2.4x
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December 2017
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Mallinkrodt plc
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Sucampo Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
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4.5x
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May 2017
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Norgine B.V.
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Merus Labs International
Inc.
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3.3x
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January 2017
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Sanpower Group Co., Ltd.
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Dendreon Pharmaceuticals
LLC
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2.7x
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March 2016
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Vectura Limited
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SkyePharma PLC
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4.8x
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December 2015
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Horizon Pharma plc
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Crealta Holdings LLC
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6.8x
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June 2015
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AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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Cbr Systems, Inc.
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5.5x
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The following disclosure replaces
the third and fourth sentences of the first paragraph in the
“Opinion of the Company’s
Financial Advisor—Financial Analyses—Discounted Cash Flow
Analysis” section:
“The implied terminal value of the Company was derived by
applying, based on Jefferies’ professional judgment, a selected
range of perpetuity growth rates of (10.0%) to (20.0%) to the
Company’s normalized unlevered after-tax free cash flow for the
fiscal year ending December 31, 2030. The present values (as of
March 31, 2022) of the cash flows and terminal values were then
calculated using a selected discount rate range of 9.2% to 10.2%
derived from a weighted average cost of capital calculation.”
After due inquiry and to the best
of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set
forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.
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Antares Pharma, Inc.
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By:
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/s/ Robert F. Apple
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Name:
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Robert F. Apple
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Title:
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President and Chief Executive Officer
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