Polyphor AG (SIX: POLN) today announced that it has entered into an equity-inked financing arrangement with the French company IRIS to raise a gross amount of up to CHF 19.3 million over the period of two years. IRIS will receive Polyphor shares to be created from the Company’s conditional capital based on this interest-free mandatory convertible bonds program. It remains at the sole discretion of Polyphor to suspend or terminate the staggered financing.
“We are encouraged by the progress we have made in implementing Polyphor’s renewed strategy to advance our pipeline in oncology and novel antibiotics. In particular, the study progress with our phase III asset balixafortide continues with 335 patients randomized to date despite the challenges provided by COVID-19. We believe that balixafortide has the potential to become a major breakthrough in treatment of metastatic breast cancer patients,” says Gokhan Batur, CEO of Polyphor. “The flexibility of the planned financing instrument allows us to ensure the continuity of its development in breast cancer, which is a key strategic imperative for us, as well as to explore its potential in other cancer indications.”
IRIS is committed to buy on a monthly basis over a period of two years twenty-four tranches of CHF 800,000 of unsecured zero-coupon mandatory convertible bonds. The program can be tailor-made in terms of period and tranche size, according to Polyphor’s financing needs. During the term of the financing, IRIS will convert each month the mandatory convertible bonds into shares at a discount to the applicable volume weighted average price (VWAP). These shares are expected to be sold on the market or in block trades.
