Calliditas Closes Acquisition of a Controlling Interest in Genkyotex SA - BiopharmaDirect

Calliditas Closes Acquisition of a Controlling Interest in Genkyotex SA

Nov 3, 2020

Calliditas Therapeutics AB (publ) ("Calliditas") (Nasdaq OMX – CALTX; NASDAQ – CALT) today announced the closing of the acquisition of 62.7% of Genkyotex SA ("Genkyotex") (Euronext Paris & Brussels: FR0013399474 – GKTX) in an off-market transaction.

On August 13, 2020, Calliditas announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire 7,236,515 ordinary shares of Genkyotex from Genkyotex's largest shareholders and management team (the "Block Sellers"), representing 62.7% of the share capital and voting rights. Having now received clearance from the French Minister of Economy and Finance regarding foreign investments into France, Calliditas has closed the off–market block trade for a total consideration of €19.8M in cash (€2.73 per ordinary share*) plus contingent rights payable upon regulatory approvals of setanaxib, Genkyotex's lead asset.

Calliditas will now, in compliance with French and Belgian securities law, file with the French Financial Market Authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers – the "AMF") a simplified mandatory cash tender offer for the remaining Genkyotex shares at €2.80 per ordinary share plus contingent rights payable upon regulatory approvals of setanaxib. The outcome from the tender offer, if approved by the AMF, is expected to be reported in December and will be followed by a squeeze-out of the non-tendered shares under the same terms if Calliditas then holds more than 90% of the outstanding Genkyotex shares.

"We are excited to announce the closing of this transaction, paving the way for continued clinical development of Setanaxib and related compounds. The class of NOX inhibitors has the potential to make an imprint on the clinical approach of treating fibrotic diseases and we are excited to contribute to this development", said CEO Renée Aguiar-Lucander.

Total acquisition cost for 100% of Genkyotex shares outstanding will amount to approximately €31.7M, plus potential future value relating to contingent rights amounting to a maximum of €55M, subject to future regulatory approvals of setanaxib.

* Certain transaction costs (amounting to circa €0.07 per share) have been deducted from the price paid to the block sellers.

Calliditas Therapeutics is a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Stockholm, Sweden focused on identifying, developing and commercializing novel treatments in orphan indications, with an initial focus on renal and hepatic diseases with significant unmet medical needs. Calliditas' lead product candidate, Nefecon, is a proprietary, novel oral formulation of budesonide, an established, highly potent local immunosuppressant, for the treatment of the autoimmune renal disease IgA nephropathy, or IgAN, for which there is a high unmet medical need and there are no approved treatments. Calliditas is running a global Phase 3 study within IgAN and, if approved, aims to commercialize Nefecon in the United States. Calliditas is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ticker: CALTX) and the Nasdaq Global Select Market (ticker: CALT).

There are currently approximately 160,000 to 200,000 people diagnosed with symptomatic obstructive HCM across the U.S. and EU, with no existing effective treatment options beyond limited symptomatic relief. Patients are typically diagnosed in their 40s or 50s and the treatment is expected to be chronic. It is estimated that only approximately 25 percent of individuals with obstructive HCM and only approximately 10 percent of individuals with non-obstructive HCM have received a diagnosis.

Source:www.calliditas.se