A significant portion of our total outstanding ordinary shares may be sold in the near future. The large number of shares eligible for sale or subject to rights requiring us to register them for sale could cause the market price of the ADSs to drop significantly, even if our business is performing well.
Sales of a substantial number of ordinary shares or the ADSs could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of the ADSs. We had 23,203,828 ordinary shares outstanding as of December 31, 2021.
On April 6, 2021, we filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, to register a total of 4,808,076 ordinary shares, representing all ordinary shares issued or issuable under our equity incentive scheme pursuant to the Appendices to our Articles of Association. Such Form S-8 registration statement automatically became effective upon filing. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statement are available for sale in the open market following the expiration of the applicable lock-up period.
As of December 31 2021, there were 2,732,618 warrants outstanding. If these warrants are exercised then an additional 2,732,618 ordinary shares will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of various vesting schedules and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act. If these additional ordinary shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the trading price of the ADSs could decline. Any sales of securities by these security holders could have a negative effect on the trading price of our ordinary shares and ADSs. In addition, as of December 31, 2021, there were 351,036 warrants issued to EIB under the loan agreement with EIB, which are expected to be cash settled. For a more detailed description of the EIB warrants see the section herein entitled “Our EIB warrants.”
Additionally, on November 28, 2021, we entered into a Share Sale and Restriction Agreement with, Dr. Lars Staal Wegner, our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Niels Iversen Møller our Co-Founder, Chief Business Officer and interim Chief Financial Officer and Andreas Mattsson, our Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, pursuant to which Dr. Wegner agreed to exercise 211,849 warrants in each of the two week exercise windows established under our Articles of Association that are expected to open two trading days following publication of our annual report and interim quarterly financial reports in March 2022, May 2022, August 2022 and November 2022, respectively.
Under the terms of this agreement, Dr. Wegner, Dr. Møller and Mr. Mattson further agreed with us that in the corresponding open trading window related to each such exercise consisting of the four-week period commencing on the third full trading day after the date of publication of our annual report or interim financial reports in March 2022, May 2022, August 2022 and November 2022, each a Trading Window, Dr. Wegner would sell such Ordinary Shares and Dr. Møller and Mr. Mattson will purchase such ordinary shares, with each of Dr. Møller and Mr. Mattson purchasing fifty per cent (50%) of such shares, at a purchase price per share equal to the Volume Weighted Average Price, or VWAP, of our ADSs at the close of the market on the date of exercise as reported on Nasdaq.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dr. Møller and Mr. Mattson agreed that during each Trading Window each of them will sell 328,731 ADSs representing Ordinary Shares at a price equal to the prevailing market price thereof on the date of such sale as reported on Nasdaq. Furthermore, pursuant the terms of the agreement, Dr. Møller and Mr. Mattson are required to sell such shares and are prohibited from exercising any subsequent influence over how, when, or whether to effect the trade(s).
Sales of ADSs or our ordinary shares as restrictions end or pursuant to the above described agreement or pursuant to registration rights may make it more difficult for us to finance our operations through the sale of equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. These sales also could cause the trading price of the ADSs to fall and make it more difficult for holders of ADSs to sell the ADSs.
Holders of the ADSs are not treated as shareholders of our company and will not have the same voting rights as our shareholders, which may affect the value of the ADSs.
Holders of ADSs are not treated as our shareholders unless they withdraw the ordinary shares underlying the ADSs from the depositary, which is the holder of the ordinary shares underlying the ADSs. Holders of ADSs, therefore, do not have any rights as shareholders of our company, other than the rights that they have pursuant to the deposit agreement. As such, holders of ADSs will not be able to directly vote underlying ordinary shares. Holders of ADSs may instruct the depositary how to vote the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs. If we ask it to, the depositary will send out information about shareholder meetings and solicit voting instructions and will try to carry out voting instructions it receives. However, we are not required to instruct the depositary to take