Santhera prices IPO at CHF 90 per share and raises CHF 88.5 million

Liestal, Switzerland - Santhera Pharmaceuticals, a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on neuromuscular diseases, today announced that it has successfully completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) of shares and its listing on the SWX Swiss Exchange.

 

Santhera has sold 983,859 registered shares, all of which are newly issued registered shares, corresponding to gross proceeds for the Company of approximately CHF 88.5 million. In addition to the public offering in Switzerland, the IPO attracted a good geographic spread of institutional investors from the UK and a number of other European countries, as well as qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) in the US.

 

The issue price is CHF 90 per share. In connection with the offering, Santhera has granted the lead manager an option to subscribe for up to an additional 147,579 newly issued registered shares at the offering price to cover over-allotments ("greenshoe"). This over-allotment option will be exercisable for a period of 30 days after initiation of trading of the shares on the SWX Swiss Exchange.

 

The ordinary share capital of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG now consists of 2,951,577 shares corresponding to a market capitalization at the offering price of approximately CHF 265.6 million, not including shares from authorized capital for the over-allotment.

 

Santhera's registered shares will commence trading today, November 3, on the SWX Swiss Exchange Main Market Segment under the ticker symbol SANN. The shares issued in the public offering constitute 33.3 % (up to 36.5 % if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) of Santhera's total share capital.

 

Deutsche Bank acted as Global Co-ordinator and Lead Manager for the offering and Piper Jaffray Inc., WestLB and Zurcher Kantonalbank as members of the syndicate.

 

Commenting on the today's news, Klaus Schollmeier, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Santhera, said, "We are delighted to have successfully completed our IPO. Santhera is at an exciting stage in its development and the funds raised will allow us to advance the development of our pipeline, particularly our lead candidates SNT-MC17/idebenone and
JP-1730/fipamezole for a range of indications. Importantly, the proceeds raised will also enable us to begin building a specialized US marketing organization as we prepare to sell our own products in the world's largest pharmaceutical market. I look forward with confidence to our future as a listed company."

 

"We have been very encouraged by the positive response of the broad range of international investors we have met as part of our IPO marketing process", added Barbara Heller, Chief Financial Officer of Santhera. She continued that "we achieved strong support from high quality, institutional investors especially from those in Switzerland, Germany, the U.K. and the USA."

 

Santhera Pharmaceuticals is a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery, development and marketing of small molecule pharmaceutical products for the treatment of severe neuromuscular diseases. Santhera's vision is to become a leading specialty pharmaceutical company offering therapies for a number of indications in this area of high unmet medical need which includes many orphan indications with no current therapy.

 

Santhera currently has four clinical-stage development programs, three of which are investigating its lead compound, SNT-MC17/idebenone, in the treatment of Friedreich's Ataxia (FRDA), Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON). The fourth clinical program is investigating JP-1730/fipamezole for the treatment of Dyskinesia in Parkinson's Disease (DPD) in cooperation with Juvantia, the compound's owner. The most advanced program, SNT-MC17/idebenone in FRDA, has entered pivotal Phase III clinical development; the other clinical programs are in Phase II. Santhera's drug pipeline comprises another three preclinical programs in cancer cachexia, DMD and type 2 diabetes (out licensed to Biovitrum).

 

For further information on Santhera, please visit www.santhera.com.

 

Klaus Schollmeier, Chief Executive Officer

Phone: +41 (0) 61 906 89 52

 

Barbara Heller, Chief Financial Officer

Phone: +41 (0) 61 906 89 54

 

Thomas Staffelbach, VP Public & Investor Relations

Phone: +41 (0) 61 906 89 47

David Dible

Phone: +44 207 638 95 71

 

THIS NEWS RELEASE CONSTITUTES NEITHER AN OFFERING PROSPECTUS WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 652a OF THE SWISS CODE OF OBLIGATIONS NOR A LISTING PROSPECTUS WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE LISTING RULES OF SWX SWISS EXCHANGE. THIS NEWS RELEASE CONSTITUTES NEITHER AN OFFER TO SELL NOR A SOLICITATION TO BUY ANY SECURITIES OF SANTHERA PHARMACEUTICALS HOLDING AG. THE SECURITIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN SOLD.

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT BEING ISSUED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND MUST NOT BE DISTRIBUTED TO U.S. PERSONS OR PUBLICATIONS WITH A GENERAL CIRCULATION IN THE UNITED STATES. THIS NEWS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OR INVITATION TO PURCHASE ANY SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. THE SECURITIES OF SANTHERA PHARMACEUTICALS HOLDING AG HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES LAWS AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD OR DELIVERED WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS ABSENT FROM REGISTRATION UNDER OR AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES LAWS.

 

This NEWS RELEASE contains specific forward-looking statements, e.g. statements including terms like "believe" "assume" "expect" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may result in a substantial divergence between the actual results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and those explicitly or implicitly presumed in these statements. Against the background of these uncertainties readers should not rely on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements or to adapt them to future events or developments.

 

STABILIZATION FSA