VANCOUVER, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ID Biomedical Corporation (TSX: IDB; NASDAQ: IDBE) announced today that it has entered into an asset backed loan agreement with Vancouver-based Second City Capital Partners (SCC) for proceeds of US $60 million. ID Biomedical will use the proceeds from the loan to repurchase approximately 4.9 million subscription receipts from Shire BioChem Inc. that were issued in connection with the Company’s acquisition of the vaccine business of Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc in September 2004. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions of closing. ID Biomedical expects to close the transaction and repurchase the subscription receipts on or before January 7, 2005.
Under the agreement with SCC, the Company has agreed to issue to SCC warrants to acquire an aggregate of 1.2 million common shares of ID Biomedical with an exercise price of U.S. $16.91 per share. The warrants will expire on December 21, 2006. The loan principal will bear interest at an annual rate of 8% and becomes due in 18 months.
In September 2004, ID Biomedical acquired Shire’s vaccine business for a purchase price of US$120 million. US$60 million of the purchase price was payable in cash - $30 million paid at closing and $30 million to be paid on September 9, 2005. The remaining US$60 million of the purchase price was satisfied through the issuance to Shire of subscription receipts, which upon exercise allow Shire to receive, for no additional consideration, 4,931,864 common shares of ID Biomedical. The subscription receipts are not exercisable by Shire until January 10, 2005. ID Biomedical may repurchase the subscription receipts for US$60 million in cash by January 7, 2005. Upon the closing of the SCC financing, ID Biomedical will repurchase the subscription receipts from Shire. Based on the closing price of the ID Biomedical common stock on December 21, 2004, the current market value of 4,931,864 shares was approximately US$77 million.
Commenting on the transaction, Todd Patrick, President of ID Biomedical said, “Repurchasing these subscription receipts is very important and strategic to ID Biomedical. We did not wish to complete a private or public offering of our shares for the full amount of the subscription receipts at this time. This alternative financing transaction affords the Company increased flexibility over the next 18 months.”
About ID Biomedical
ID Biomedical is an integrated biotechnology company dedicated to the development of innovative vaccine products. It operates in research, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing from its facilities in Canada and in the United States. ID Biomedical is dedicated to becoming a premier vaccine company with significant marketed products worldwide and an extensive pipeline in both clinical and preclinical development.
ID Biomedical has a leading position in the Canadian influenza market. It received a ten-year mandate from the Government of Canada in 2001 to assure a state of readiness in the case of an influenza pandemic and provide influenza vaccine for all Canadians in such an event. It also currently supplies approximately 75% of the Canadian government’s influenza vaccine purchases.
For further information on ID Biomedical, please visit the Company’s website at http://www.idbiomedical.com/.
The information in this news release contains so-called “forward-looking” statements. These include statements regarding ID Biomedical’s expectations and plans relating to the closing of the loan transaction and the repurchase of the subscription receipts described herein, statements about ID Biomedical’s expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies for the future, which may be indicated by words or phrases such as “anticipate”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “will”, “we believe”, “ID Biomedical believes”, “management believes”, and similar language. All forward-looking statements are based on ID Biomedical’s current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties and to assumptions made. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include: (i) the company’s ability to successfully integrate the Shire vaccine business; (ii) the company’s ability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development of its products; (iii) the company’s ability to manufacture its products; (iv) the seasonality of the flu-vaccine business and related fluctuations in the company’s revenues from quarter to quarter; (v) decisions, and the timing of decisions, made by the health regulatory agencies regarding approval of its products for human testing; (vi) the company’s ability to enter into distribution agreements for its products, and to complete and maintain corporate alliances relating to the development and commercialization of its technology and products; (vii) market acceptance of its technologies and products; and (viii) the competitive environment and impact of technological change and other risks detailed in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ID Biomedical bases its forward-looking statements on information currently available to it, and assumes no obligation to update them.
For further information, please contact: Investor Relations / Media Dean Linden (604) 431-9314 dlinden@idbiomedical.com Michele Roy (450) 978-6313 mroy@idbiomedical.com
ID Biomedical Corporation
CONTACT: Investor Relations/Media - Dean Linden, (604) 431-9314,dlinden@idbiomedical.com; Michele Roy, (450) 978-6313,mroy@idbiomedical.com;To request a free copy of this organization’s annual report, please go tohttp://www.newswire.ca/ and click on reports@cnw.