Syncona Limited
Autolus announces pricing of public
offering
08 February 2024
Syncona Ltd, a leading life science investor focused
on creating, building and scaling global leaders in life science,
notes that its portfolio company, Autolus Therapeutics
plc ("Autolus") today announced the pricing of its
underwritten offering in the United States of
58,333,336 American Depositary Shares ("ADSs")
representing 58,333,336 ordinary shares, at a public
offering price of $6.00 per ADS, for total gross proceeds
of approximately $350.0 million (£277.2
million)[1]. All ADSs sold in the offering
were offered by Autolus. The offering is expected to
close on February 12, 2024, subject to customary closing
conditions.
Following this public offering and the sale of
$200 million ADSs to BioNTech SE
("BioNTech") as part of a Strategic Collaboration,
Syncona retains a stake of approximately 11.8%
in Autolus (amounting to 33,527,162 ordinary shares)
which was valued at £167.8 million at close of business
on 07 February 2024.
Chris
Hollowood, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited,
said: "The collaboration with BioNTech and the
pricing of today's financing are fantastic achievements for
Autolus. The company is now well funded to deliver obe-cel's path
in r/r adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and will be able to
accelerate its oncology pipeline programmes and broaden the use of
Autolus' technology into autoimmune indications. A core premise of
Syncona's strategy is to build and fund companies to late-stage
development. We are proud Autolus has achieved this and has also
now secured the funding to deliver on the next critical leg of the
journey - delivering its potentially transformational product to
patients. We look forward to seeing the FDA's decision around the
approval of obe-cel in November 2024."
This announcement does not constitute an offer
to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, and
shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be
unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the
securities laws of that jurisdiction.
When available, copies of the final prospectus
supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the offering
may be obtained for free from the joint book-running managers for
the offering, Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus
Department, 520 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022, by telephone at
(877) 821-7388 or by email at Prospectus_Department@Jefferies.com;
or Truist Securities, Inc., Attention: Prospectus Department, 3333
Peachtree Road NE, 9th floor, Atlanta, GA 30326, email:
TruistSecurities.prospectus@Truist.com, or by telephone:
1-800-685-4786.
The announcement can be accessed on Autolus' investor
website at https://www.autolus.com/investor-relations/news/
and the full text of the announcement from Autolus is contained
below.
[ENDS]
Enquiries
Syncona Ltd
Annabel Clark / Fergus
Witt
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3981 7940
FTI Consulting
Ben Atwell / Natalie Garland-Collins
/ Tim Stamper
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000
About
Syncona
Syncona's purpose is to invest to
extend and enhance human life. We do this by creating and building
companies to deliver transformational treatments to patients in
areas of high unmet need.
Our strategy is to create, build and
scale companies around exceptional science to create a diversified
portfolio of 20-25 globally leading healthcare businesses, across
development stage and therapeutic areas, for the benefit of all our
stakeholders. We focus on developing treatments for patients by
working in close partnership with world-class academic founders and
management teams. Our balance sheet underpins our strategy enabling
us to take a long-term view as we look to improve the lives of
patients with no or poor treatment options, build sustainable life
science companies and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to
shareholders.
Syncona Limited seeks to achieve
returns over the long term. Investors should seek to ensure they
understand the risks and opportunities of an investment in Syncona
Limited, including the information in our published documentation,
before investing.
About
Autolus
Autolus is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
developing next-generation, programmed T cell therapies for the
treatment of cancer. Using a broad suite of proprietary and modular
T cell programming technologies, Autolus is engineering precisely
targeted, controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are
designed to better recognize cancer cells, break down their defense
mechanisms and eliminate these cells. Autolus has a pipeline of
product candidates in development for the treatment of
hematological malignancies and solid tumors. For more information,
please visit www.autolus.com.
Autolus Announces Pricing of Underwritten
Offering
LONDON -
8 February 2024 - Autolus
Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: AUTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies,
today announced the pricing of an underwritten offering in the
United States of 58,333,336 American Depositary Shares ("ADSs")
representing 58,333,336 ordinary shares at a public offering price
of $6.00 per ADS, for total gross proceeds of $350 million. All
ADSs sold in the offering were offered by Autolus. Autolus intends to use the net proceeds from this offering,
together with its existing cash and cash equivalents and the $250
million it will receive from BioNTech SE, consisting of upfront
payments under a license and option agreement and gross proceeds
from the sale of ADSs to BioNTech SE in a private placement, to
advance the clinical development of its obe-cel program and fund
manufacturing activities for obe-cel, development of its commercial
infrastructure and working capital and other general corporate
purposes. The offering is expected to close on February 12,
2024, subject to customary closing conditions.
Jefferies LLC and Truist Securities, Inc. are acting
as joint bookrunners for the offering. Mizuho Securities USA LLC,
Needham & Company, LLC and Van Lanschot Kempen (USA) Inc. are
acting as co-managers.
The securities are being offered
pursuant to an automatic shelf registration statement on
Form S-3 that was previously filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). A final prospectus supplement
relating to the offering will also be filed with the SEC. These
documents can be accessed for free through the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov.
The offering will be made only by means of a written
prospectus and prospectus supplement that form a part of the
registration statement, which, for the avoidance of doubt, will not
constitute a "prospectus" for the purposes of the Regulation (EU)
2017/1129 and has not been reviewed by any competent authority in
any member state in the European Economic Area.
When available, copies of the final prospectus
supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the offering
may be obtained for free from the joint book-running managers for
the offering, Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity
Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, New York, NY
10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388 or by email at
Prospectus_Department@Jefferies.com; or Truist Securities,
Inc., Attention: Prospectus Department, 3333 Peachtree Road NE, 9th
floor, Atlanta, GA 30326, email:
TruistSecurities.prospectus@Truist.com, or by telephone:
1-800-685-4786.
This press release does not constitute an offer to
sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, and shall
not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction
in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior
to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that
jurisdiction.
About
Autolus
Autolus is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
developing next-generation, programmed T cell therapies for the
treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. Using a broad suite of
proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies,
Autolus is engineering precisely targeted,
controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are designed to
better recognize target cells, break down their defense mechanisms
and eliminate these cells. Autolus has a pipeline of product
candidates in development for the treatment of hematological
malignancies, solid tumors and autoimmune diseases. For more
information, please visit www.autolus.com.
Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including
statements with regard to Autolus' expectations regarding the
completion and use of proceeds from the proposed securities
offering. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "expects,"
"intends," "projects," and "future" or similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent
uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions and no
assurance can be given that the proposed securities offering
discussed above will be consummated on the terms described or at
all. Completion of the proposed offering and the terms thereof are
subject to numerous factors, many of which are beyond the control
of Autolus, including, without limitation, market conditions,
failure of customary closing conditions and the risk factors and
other matters set forth in Autolus' Annual Report on Form 20-F for
the year ended December 31, 2022 and other filings Autolus makes
with the SEC from time to time. Autolus undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether
as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except
as may be required by law.
##
Contacts:
Olivia Manser
+44 (0) 7780 471568
o.manser@autolus.com
Julia Wilson
+44 (0) 7818 430877
j.wilson@autolus.com
Susan A Noonan
S.A. Noonan Communications
+1-917-513-5303
susan@sanoonan.com