Wrocław, 8 April 2021 - Captor Therapeutics S.A., a biopharmaceutical company developing drug candidates for treatment of oncological and autoimmune diseases using targeted protein degradation, successfully closed the initial public offering of its shares, placing all the offered shares at the maximum price. The public offering consisted of 871,500 newly issued shares and due to strong demand from investors – the sale of 198,000 existing shares. The Company and the selling shareholders allocated a total of 1,069,500 shares and the value of the offering was ca. PLN 184 million. Institutional investors purchased 959,500 shares, and 110,000 shares were allocated to retail investors.
Almost 1,8 thousand individual investor subscriptions for the Company’s shares exceeded PLN 228 million in value. This considerable interest in the Company's shares among individual investors led to an 91,7% reduction of allocation in the retail tranche.
The initial public offering of Captor Therapeutics is the first European IPO of a company specialized in drug discovery using targeted protein degradation (TPD).
- The Company placed all the offered shares at the maximum price of PLN 172
- The Company will receive ca. PLN 150 million (ca. USD 38 million) to advance in particular its product pipeline and expand its targeted protein degradation platform
- Offering several times oversubscribed due to high demand from institutional investors
- Strong oversubscription among individual investors resulted in an 91,7% reduction in the retail tranche
- Trading of Captor Therapeutics’ shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange is planned for the second half of April 2021
“The solid success of the public offering confirms that our Company and its prospects have been assessed very positively by Polish and international investors. The fact that Captor’s IPO is the largest in the biotechnology sector in the WSE's history and the first in Europe of a company focused on TPD technology is a testament to the significant advances made in the local biotechnology sector and the growing sophistication of the capital markets in Poland. It also marks the next stage of our development – as a public company we undertake many new responsibilities, but we also now have additional tools to take Captor forward onto the global stage of TPD drug development. On behalf of the Company's Management Board, I would like to thank all 84 of my colleagues at Captor for their unfailing efforts that enabled us to accomplish such a great success and to crystalize this important moment in the company's history," said Dr Tom Shepherd, CEO and President of the Management Board, Captor Therapeutics.
The funds obtained by the Company from the public offering, amounting to approx. PLN 150 million (ca. USD 38 million), will be used to focus in particular on the following objectives:
- Advance our innovative drug pipeline through preclinical development, taking the most advanced projects to initial clinical phase.
- Enter into value building new partnerships with pharma and biotech companies in addition to our existing partnership with Sosei Heptares.
- Enhance and expand the capabilities of our leading edge TPD focused laboratories in Wroclaw
- Expand our business and strategic presence in Allschwil, Switzerland
- Expand our international level science and business team with the key hires necessary for the new development and clinical challenges ahead of the Company
- Pursue with vigor our expanding portfolio of intellectual property
Dr Michal Walczak, Co-Founder, Member of the Board and Chief Scientific Officer, commented “When we founded Captor Therapeutics, we had novel ideas as to how we could build a unique targeted protein degradation company capable of becoming an international force in drug discovery and development. After years of hard work, visionary private investors and the incredible application of our team, today demonstrates how strong ideas can become a high potential reality – a company with a broad pipeline of novel drug programmes and a differentiated TPD platform capable of repeatedly creating new drug candidates. "
About Captor Therapeutics
Captor Therapeutics S.A. is a rapidly growing European biopharmaceutical company with principal operations in Wrocław, Poland. The Company operates in state-of the-art laboratories in the Wrocław Technology Park. Captor is also present in the Swiss Innovation Park, Allschwil, close to Basel, with its subsidiary Captor Therapeutics GmbH.
Captor Therapeutics focuses on the discovery and development of breakthrough drug candidates in diseases with high levels of unmet medical need using Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD). TPD is a revolutionary approach to finding new drugs that can address totally new molecular targets, currently not addressable using classical drugs, as well as improving the treatment options for diseases where existing drugs fail to prove optimal treatment. Captor is conducting, among others, five research and development projects aimed at developing drug candidates for the treatment of undertreated severe conditions, including malignancies and autoimmune diseases.
Captor recently launched a new research and development collaboration with the Japanese company Sosei Heptares combining Captor’s proprietary TPD platform with Sosei Heptares’ expertise and technology in a specific family of drug targets called GPCRs.
TPD technology is a transformational breakthrough because of its potential to target any protein, including proteins considered to be therapeutically un-targetable (undruggable Proteome). Captor Therapeutics is the European leader in TPD technology.
Captor Therapeutics currently has five R&D projects at the preclinical stage (four of which are at the lead optimisation phase).
The Company was advised in the IPO process by: Trigon Dom Maklerski S.A. acting as global coordinator and co-bookrunner, Biuro Maklerskie PKO Bank Polski S.A. as co-bookrunner, MJH Moskwa, Jarmul, Haładyj i Partnerzy – Adwokaci i Radcowie Prawni sp. p. as legal counsel, and cc group – investor relations and financial communication.
More information on Captor Therapeutics is available at: http://www.captortherapeutics.com
LinkedIn: @CaptorTherapeutics
Twitter: @CaptorTherapeu1
For further information, please contact:
Media contact:
Michał Wierzchowski, cc group
telephone +48 531 613 067, email: micha8a754ejl.wierzchowski@ccgroup.pl
Disclaimer:
This material (and information contained herein) is of an exclusively promotional (advertising) nature. In particular, it does not constitute an offer to sell, solicitation, or invitation to make an offer, or proposal to purchase financial instruments, and should not be treated as a source of sufficient knowledge to make an investment decision regarding financial instruments, particularly in the territory of Poland.
The only legally binding document containing information on Captor, based on which the initial public offering of Captor's shares on the territory of Poland will be conducted, will be the prospectus drawn up under Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC.
On 22 March 2021, the prospectus was approved by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority ("PFSA"). The prospectus is the only legally binding document containing information about the Company and Offered Shares, Offering and the Admission. The Prospectus, together with any supplements and communications updating the Prospectus and information regarding the final price of the Offered Shares for particular categories of investors and the final number of the Offered Shares offered in the Offering as well as the final number and category of the Offered Shares offered to particular categories of investors (once prepared and published) is available on the Company's website (http://www. captortherapeutics.pl/pierwszaoferta) and, for information purposes only, on the websites of Trigon Dom Maklerski S.A., (http://www.trigon.pl/o-firmie/aktualnosci) and Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski Spółka Akcyjna Oddział - Biuro Maklerskie w Warszawie (http://www.bm.pkobp.pl/o-nas/aktualnosci/captor-therapeutics-sa-prospekt-emisyjny/). Subscriptions for the Offered Shares in the Offering should be made exclusively based on information contained in the Prospectus.
When approving the Prospectus, the PFSA does not review or approve the Company's business model, methods of doing business, or method of financing its business. In the proceedings on the approval of the Prospectus, neither the correctness of the information contained in the Prospectus nor the level of risk related to the activity conducted by the Company and the investment risk related to the purchase of the Company's securities is subject to assessment. Approval of the Prospectus should not be construed as an endorsement of securities offered or admitted to trading on a regulated market.
Potential investors must read carefully the entire Prospectus and in particular, the risks associated with investing in the Company's shares, as described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" and the terms of the public offering. Any decision to invest in the Company's securities should be made only after consideration of the contents of the entire Prospectus, including any supplements and communications updating the Prospectus, as well as information about the final price of the shares for particular categories of investors, the final number of shares offered in the offering, as well as, if any, the final number and category of shares offered to particular categories of investors (once prepared and published).
The information contained in the material is current as of the date of its publication and is subject to change without notice, may also be incomplete or abridged, and may not contain all material information concerning the Company. Liability for the use of the information contained in this material rests solely with the person using this material. This material and information do not constitute information recommending or suggesting an investment strategy, including an investment recommendation, within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (Market Abuse Regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/958 of 9 March 2016 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards for the technical arrangements for objective presentation of investment recommendations or other information recommending or suggesting an investment strategy and for disclosure of particular interests or indications of conflicts of interest.
The offering of the Company's shares will be carried out exclusively in the territory of the Republic of Poland. Therefore, the distribution of this document in certain countries may be prohibited. Distribution of this document in the territory of the United States of America, Canada, Japan, and Australia is not permitted. The information contained in the document does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States of America, Canada, Japan, or Australia.