Paris, France, September 14, 2009 – Hybrigenics (ALHYG), a bio-pharmaceutical company listed on Alternext (NYSE-Euronext) in Paris, with a focus on research and development of new cancer treatments and specialized in protein interactions, today announces it has signed an agreement with YA Global Master SPV LTD (“Yorkville”) whereby Yorkville agrees to provide equity financing to Hybrigenics subject to approval by the next Extraordinary General Meeting of Hybrigenics expected to be called on October 23, 2009.
If approved at the Extraordinary General Meeting, at any time during the 3 year agreement, Hybrigenics will have the option (but no obligation) at its sole and exclusive discretion, to request Yorkville to subscribe to and purchase newly issued shares (par value EUR 0.10 each) in tranches of up to EUR 200,000 per tranche (issue premium included), with a maximum of one tranche per week and provided that Yorkville shall in no event hold more than 9,9 per cent of the share capital of Hybrigenics.
The issue price of the new shares will be determined as 95 per cent of the lowest daily volume-weighted average share price of the five trading days following the date on which Hybrigenics shall have sent to Yorkville the relevant draw down notice, and may in no event be less than 80.75 per cent of the daily volume-weighted average price of Hybrigenics shares on the last trading day prior to such date.
The total amount drawn by Hybrigenics from Yorkville pursuant to the agreement may reach a maximum of EUR 5 million (issue premium included). Yorkville can either sell these shares in the market (provided that no public offer be made) or accumulate them. Yorkville is also committed not to short sell or enter into any hedging transactions related to Hybrigenics stock.
Subject to and upon approval by the next Extraordinary General Meeting, Hybrigenics will also issue new shares (par value EUR 0.10 each) for value EUR 100,000 (issue premium included) to Yorkville, representing approximately 30,000 shares based on the current share price, at a price equal to the average of the daily volume-weighted share prices of the 20 trading days prior to the approval. These will be subscribed by way of set off against a one time commitment fee due by Hybrigenics to Yorkville and, unlike the shares drawn under the equity line, will be locked-up for a period of 6 months from their issue date.
“This agreement provides us with the flexibility to raise finance through equity at our discretion, whilst minimizing dilution for our shareholders. We feel our cash needs for running our internal cancer research and for preparing for the next stage of the clinical development of inecalcitol, are now well secured,” said Remi Delansorne, Hybrigenics’ CEO.
Dr. Michael J. Nowak, Managing Director at Yorkville Advisors, LLC, the investment manager to the Yorkville fund, led the investment into Hybrigenics and stated: “Yorkville provides flexible and innovative financing tools for public companies to expand and grow their businesses. We believe that there are a number of very promising French biotech companies. We are particularly excited to invest in Hybrigenics, our first transaction on the Euronext-Paris market place.”
About Hybrigenics
Hybrigenics (www.hybrigenics.com) is a bio-pharmaceutical company listed (ALHYG) on Alternext (NYSE-Euronext) in Paris, focusing its internal R&D programs on innovative targets and therapies for the treatment of cancer. Hybrigenics’ development program is based on inecalcitol, a vitamin D analogue, for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer in combination with Sanofi-Aventis’ Taxotere®, which is the current gold-standard chemotherapeutic treatment for this indication. Hybrigenics’ research program explores the role of enzymes known as ubiquitin-specific proteases (USP) in the degradation of onco-proteins, and the effectiveness of proprietary USP inhibitors in treating various types of cancer.
Hybrigenics is also the market leader in Yeast-Two Hybrid (Y2H) and related services to identify, validate and inhibit protein interactions for researchers in all areas of life sciences, using its ISO 9001-certified high-throughput Y2H screening platform, its sophisticated bioinformatics tools and extensive database, along with its chemical library and chemical screening platform.
