UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): June 24, 2025
FORTE BIOSCIENCES, INC.
(Exact name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
| Delaware | 001-38052 | 26-1243872 | ||
| (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) |
(Commission File Number) |
(IRS Employer Identification No.) |
| 3060 Pegasus Park Dr. Building 6 Dallas, Texas |
75247 | |
| (Address of Principal Executive Offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code: (310) 618-6994
Not Applicable
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):
| ☐ | Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) |
| ☐ | Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class |
Trading Symbol(s) |
Name of each exchange on which registered |
||
| Common Stock, $0.001 par value | FBRX | The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§ 230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§ 240.12b-2 of this chapter).
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.
On June 24, 2025, Forte Biosciences, Inc. (the “Company”) entered into an underwriting agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with TD Securities (USA) LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C., Guggenheim Securities, LLC, and Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, as representatives (the “Representatives”) of the several underwriters named therein (collectively, the “Underwriters”), relating to the issuance and sale in a public offering (the “Offering”) of 5,630,450 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, at a price to the public of $12.00 per share (the “Shares”), and, in lieu of Shares to certain investors, pre-funded warrants to purchase 619,606 Shares (the “Pre-Funded Warrants”) at a price to the public of $11.999 per Pre-Funded Warrant, which represents the per share public offering price for the Shares less the $0.001 exercise price for each such Pre-Funded Warrant. The Company also granted the Underwriters an option, exercisable for a period of 30 days, to purchase up to an additional 937,508 Shares (the “Option”). All of the Shares and Pre-Funded Warrants in the Offering are being sold by the Company.
The gross proceeds from the Offering are expected to be approximately $75.0 million before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses, and assuming no exercise of the Option by the Underwriters. The Offering is expected to close on or about June 26, 2025, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
We estimate the net proceeds to us from this offering will be approximately $70.0 million (or approximately $80.5 million if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares is exercised in full) after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Based on our planned use of the net proceeds from this offering and our existing cash and cash equivalents, we estimate that such funds will be sufficient to enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into 2027.
The Underwriting Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and agreements by the Company, customary conditions to closing, indemnification obligations of the Company and the Underwriters, including for liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), other obligations of the parties and termination provisions. The representations, warranties and covenants contained in the Underwriting Agreement were made only for purposes of such agreement and as of specific dates, were solely for the benefit of the parties to such agreement and may be subject to limitations agreed upon by such parties.
The Offering is being made pursuant to the Company’s effective registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-286226) (the “Registration Statement”), previously filed with and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to and describing the terms of the Offering has been filed with the SEC and a final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering will also be filed with the SEC.
Each Pre-Funded Warrant will have an exercise price of $0.001 per share. The exercise price of the Pre-Funded Warrants and the number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of each Pre-Funded Warrant are subject to appropriate adjustments in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting the common stock. The Pre-Funded Warrants are exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part, through a cash purchase or a cashless exercise, in which case the holder would receive upon such exercise the net number of shares of common stock determined according to the formula set forth in the Pre-Funded Warrant. Under the Pre-Funded Warrants, the Company may not effect the exercise of any Pre-Funded Warrants, and a holder will not be entitled to exercise any portion of any Pre-Funded Warrant that, upon giving effect to such exercise, would cause the aggregate number of shares of common stock beneficially owned by the holder (together with its affiliates) to exceed 4.99% or, at the election of the holder prior to the issuance of such warrant, a different percentage not in excess of 9.99% of the number of shares of common stock that would be issued and outstanding immediately after such exercise. However, any holder of a Pre-Funded Warrant may increase or decrease such percentage to any other percentage not in excess of 19.99% upon at least 61 days’ prior notice from the holder to the Company. In the event of a fundamental transaction, as described in the Pre-Funded Warrants, the holders of the Pre-Funded Warrants will be entitled to receive upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants the same amount and kind of securities, cash or property that the holders would have received had they exercised the Pre-Funded Warrants immediately prior to such fundamental transaction without regard to any limitations on exercise contained in the Pre-Funded Warrants.
The foregoing descriptions of the terms of the Underwriting Agreement and the Pre-Funded Warrants do not purport to be complete and are each qualified in their entirety by reference to the Underwriting Agreement and the form of Pre-Funded Warrant, respectively, which are filed as Exhibit 1.1 and Exhibit 4.1 hereto and are incorporated herein by reference.
A copy of the opinion of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. relating to the validity of the Shares, the Pre-Funded Warrants and the shares underlying the Pre-Funded Warrants is filed as Exhibit 5.1 hereto and is incorporated by reference into the Registration Statement.
Item 8.01. Other Events.
A copy of the press release announcing the pricing of the Offering is attached to this Current Report on Form 8-K as Exhibit 99.1 and incorporated herein by reference.
Forward Looking Statements
This report contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negatives of these terms or other similar expressions. These statements are based on the Company’s current beliefs and expectations.
Forward-looking statements in this report include statements regarding the completion and timing of the Offering and the anticipated proceeds from the Offering. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation: whether or not the Company will be able to raise capital through the sale of securities or consummate the Offering; the final terms of the Offering; the satisfaction of customary closing conditions; prevailing market conditions; general economic and market conditions as well as geopolitical developments; and other risks. Additional risks, uncertainties, and other information affecting the Company’s business and operating results are contained in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 15, 2025, and in its other filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements in this Current Report on Form 8-K are current only as of the date hereof and, except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits
| Exhibit |
Description |
|
| 1.1 | Underwriting Agreement, dated as of June 24, 2025. | |
| 4.1 | Form of Pre-Funded Warrant. | |
| 5.1 | Opinion of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. | |
| 23.1 | Consent of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. (included in Exhibit 5.1). | |
| 99.1 | Press Release, dated June 24, 2025. | |
| 104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document). | |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| FORTE BIOSCIENCES, INC. | ||||||
| Date: June 25, 2025 | By: | /s/ Antony Riley |
||||
| Antony Riley Chief Financial Officer |
||||||
Exhibit 1.1
5,630,450 Shares of Common Stock
Pre-Funded Warrants to Purchase up to 619,606 Shares of Common Stock
Forte Biosciences, Inc.
UNDERWRITING AGREEMENT
June 24, 2025
TD SECURITIES (USA) LLC
EVERCORE GROUP L.L.C.
GUGGENHEIM SECURITIES, LLC
CHARDAN CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC
AS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SEVERAL UNDERWRITERS
C/O TD SECURITIES (USA) LLC
1 VANDERBILT AVENUE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10017
C/O EVERCORE GROUP L.L.C.
55 EAST 52ND STREET
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10055
C/O GUGGENHEIM SECURITIES, LLC
330 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10017
C/O CHARDAN CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC
ONE PENNSYLVANIA PLAZA, SUITE 4800
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10119
Dear Sirs and Madams:
1. INTRODUCTORY. Forte Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), proposes to sell, pursuant to the terms of this agreement (the “Agreement”), to the several underwriters named in Schedule A hereto (the “Underwriters,” or, each, an “Underwriter”), an aggregate of (a) 5,630,450 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, of the Company (the “Common Stock”), and (b) pre-funded warrants to purchase up to 619,606 shares of Common Stock (the “Pre-Funded Warrants”).
The aggregate of 5,630,450 shares of Common Stock so proposed to be sold is hereinafter referred to as the “Firm Stock”. The shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants are herein referred to as the “Warrant Shares.” The Company also proposes to sell to the Underwriters, upon the terms and conditions set forth in Section 3 hereof, up to an additional 937,508 shares of Common Stock (the “Optional Stock”). The Firm Stock and the Optional Stock are hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Stock”. The Stock, the Pre-Funded Warrants and the Warrant Shares are hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Securities”. TD Securities (USA) LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C., Guggenheim Securities, LLC and Chardan Capital Markets, LLC are acting as Representatives of the several Underwriters and in such capacity are hereinafter referred to as the “Representatives.”
2. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES. The Company represents and warrants to the several Underwriters, as of the date hereof and as of each Closing Date (as defined below), and agrees with the several Underwriters, that:
(a) Registration Statement. A registration statement of the Company on Form S-3 (File No. 333-286226) (including all amendments thereto, the “Initial Registration Statement”) in respect of the Securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Company meets the requirements for use of Form S-3 under the Securities Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder (the “Rules and Regulations”). The Initial Registration Statement and any post-effective amendment thereto, each in the form heretofore delivered to you, and, excluding exhibits thereto, to you for each of the other Underwriters, have been declared effective by the Commission in such form and meet the requirements of the Securities Act, and the Rules and Regulations. The proposed offering of the Securities may be made pursuant to General Instruction I.B.1 of Form S-3. Other than (i) the Initial Registration Statement, (ii) a registration statement, if any, increasing the size of the offering filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act and the Rules and Regulations (a “Rule 462(b) Registration Statement”), (iii) any Preliminary Prospectus (as defined below), (iv) the Prospectus (as defined below) contemplated by this Agreement to be filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the Rules and Regulations in accordance with Section 4(i)(a) hereof and (v) any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus (as defined below), no other document with respect to the offer or sale of the Securities has heretofore been filed with the Commission. No stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Initial Registration Statement, any post-effective amendment thereto or the Rule 462(b) Registration Statement, if any, has been issued and no proceeding for that purpose or pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act has been initiated or threatened by the Commission (any preliminary prospectus included in the Initial Registration Statement or filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424 of the Rules and Regulations is hereinafter called a “Preliminary Prospectus”).
The Initial Registration Statement including all exhibits thereto and including the information contained in the Prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the Rules and Regulations and deemed by virtue of Rule 430B under the Securities Act to be part of the Initial Registration Statement at the time it became effective is hereinafter collectively called the “Registration Statement.” If the Company has filed a Rule 462(b) Registration Statement, then any reference herein to the term “Registration Statement” shall be deemed to include such Rule 462 Registration Statement. The base prospectus included in the Initial Registration Statement at the time of effectiveness thereof, as supplemented by the final prospectus supplement relating to the offer and sale of the Securities, in the form filed pursuant to and within the time limits described in Rule 424(b) under the Rules and Regulations, is hereinafter called the “Prospectus.”
Any reference herein to the Registration Statement, Preliminary Prospectus or the Prospectus shall be deemed to refer to and include the documents incorporated by reference therein. Any reference to any amendment or supplement to any Preliminary Prospectus or the Prospectus shall be deemed to refer to and include any documents filed after the date of such Preliminary Prospectus or the Prospectus under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and incorporated by reference in such Preliminary Prospectus or Prospectus, as the case may be. Any reference to (i) the Registration Statement shall be deemed to refer to and include the annual report of the last completed fiscal year of the Company on Form 10-K filed under Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act prior to the date hereof and (ii) the effective date of such Registration Statement shall be deemed to refer to and include the date such Registration Statement became effective and, if later, the date such Form 10-K was so filed. Any reference to any amendment to the Registration Statement shall be deemed to refer to and include any annual report of the Company filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of this Agreement that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement.
(b) General Disclosure Package. As of the Applicable Time (as defined below) and as of the Closing Date or the Option Closing Date (as defined below), as the case may be, neither (i) any General Use Free Writing Prospectus (as defined below) issued at or prior to the Applicable Time, the Pricing Prospectus (as defined below) and the information included on Schedule C hereto, all considered together (collectively, the “General Disclosure Package”), (ii) any individual Limited Use Free Writing Prospectus (as defined below), nor (iii) the bona fide electronic roadshow (as defined in Rule 433(h)(5) of the Rules and Regulations), in each case when considered together with the General Disclosure Package, included or will include any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted or will omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided, however, that the Company makes no representations or warranties as to information contained in or omitted from the Pricing Prospectus or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus (as defined below), in reliance upon, and in conformity with, written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information the parties hereto agree is limited to the Underwriters’ Information (as defined in Section 18). As used in this paragraph (b) and elsewhere in this Agreement:
“Applicable Time” means 7:30 p.m., New York time, on the date of this Agreement or such other time as agreed to by the Company and the Representatives.
“Pricing Prospectus” means the Preliminary Prospectus relating to the Securities that is included in the Registration Statement immediately prior to the Applicable Time, including any document incorporated by reference therein.
“Issuer Free Writing Prospectus” means any “issuer free writing prospectus,” as defined in Rule 433 of the Rules and Regulations relating to the Securities in the form filed or required to be filed with the Commission or, if not required to be filed, in the form retained in the Company’s records pursuant to Rule 433(g) of the Rules and Regulations.
“General Use Free Writing Prospectus” means any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus that is identified on Schedule B to this Agreement.
“Limited Use Free Writing Prospectus” means any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus that is not a General Use Free Writing Prospectus.
“Testing-the-Waters Communication” means any oral or written communication with potential investors undertaken in reliance on Rule 163B of the Securities Act.
“Written Testing-the-Waters Communication” means any Testing-the-Waters Communication (as defined below) that is a written communication within the meaning of Rule 405 of the Rules and Regulations.
(c) No Stop Orders; No Material Misstatements. No order preventing or suspending the use of any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or the Prospectus relating to the proposed offering of the Securities has been issued by the Commission, and no proceeding for that purpose or pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act has been instituted or threatened by the Commission, and each Preliminary Prospectus, at the time of filing thereof, conformed in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act and the Rules and Regulations, and did not contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided, however, that the Company makes no representations or warranties as to information contained in or omitted from any Preliminary Prospectus, in reliance upon, and in conformity with, written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information the parties hereto agree is limited to the Underwriters’ Information.
(d) Registration Statement and Prospectus Contents. At the respective times the Registration Statement and any amendments thereto became or have become effective as to the Underwriters and at each Closing Date, the Registration Statement and any amendments thereto conformed and will conform in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act and the Rules and Regulations and did not and will not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; and the Prospectus and any amendments or supplements thereto, at the time the Prospectus or any amendment or supplement thereto was issued and at each Closing Date, conformed and will conform in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act and the Rules and Regulations and did not and will not contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided, however, that the foregoing representations and warranties in this paragraph (d) shall not apply to information contained in or omitted from the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or any amendment or supplement thereto, in reliance upon, and in conformity with, written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information the parties hereto agree is limited to the Underwriters’ Information.
(e) Issuer Free Writing Prospectus. Each Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, as of its issue date and at all subsequent times through the completion of the public offer and sale of the Securities or until any earlier date that the Company notified or notifies the Representatives as described in Section 4(f), did not, does not and will not include any information that conflicted, conflicts or will conflict with the information contained in the Registration Statement, Pricing Prospectus or the Prospectus, including any document incorporated by reference therein and any prospectus supplement deemed to be a part thereof that has not been superseded or modified, or included or would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted or would omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided, however, that the foregoing representations and warranties in this paragraph (e) shall not apply to information contained in or omitted from the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or any amendment or supplement thereto, in reliance upon, and in conformity with, written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information the parties hereto agree is limited to the Underwriters’ Information.
(f) Documents Incorporated by Reference. The documents incorporated by reference in the Prospectus, when they were filed with the Commission conformed in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, as applicable, and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder and none of such documents contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact required to be stated therein, or necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; and any further documents so filed and incorporated by reference in the Prospectus, when such documents are filed with the Commission will conform in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, as applicable, and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder and will not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.
(g) Distribution of Offering Materials. The Company has not, directly or indirectly, distributed and will not distribute any offering material in connection with the offering and sale of the Securities other than any Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus and other materials, if any, permitted under the Securities Act and consistent with Section 4(I)(b) below. The Company will file with the Commission all Issuer Free Writing Prospectuses (other than a “road show” as described in Rule 433(d)(8) of the Rules and Regulations) in the time and manner required under Rules 163(b)(2) and 433(d) of the Rules and Regulations.
(h) Not an Ineligible Issuer. (A) At the time of filing the Initial Registration Statement, any Rule 462(b) Registration Statement and any post-effective amendments thereto, and at the date hereof, the Company was not, and the Company currently is not, an “ineligible issuer,” as defined in Rule 405 of the Rules and Regulations.
(i) Testing the Waters Communications. The Company (a) has not alone engaged in any Testing-the-Waters Communication other than Testing-the-Waters Communications with the consent of the Representatives with entities that the Company reasonably believes are qualified institutional buyers within the meaning of Rule 144A under the Securities Act or institutions that are accredited investors within the meaning of Rule 501 under the Securities Act and (b) has not authorized anyone other than the Representatives to engage in Testing-the-Waters Communications. The Company has not distributed any Written Testing-the-Waters Communications.
(j) Organization and Good Standing. The Company and each of its subsidiaries (as defined in Section 15) have been duly organized and are validly existing as corporations or other legal entities in good standing (or the foreign equivalent thereof) under the laws of their respective jurisdictions of organization. The Company and each of its subsidiaries are duly qualified to do business and are in good standing as foreign corporations or other legal entities in each jurisdiction in which their respective ownership or lease of property or the conduct of their respective businesses requires such qualification and have all power and authority (corporate or other) necessary to own or hold their respective properties and to conduct the businesses in which they are engaged, except where the failure to so qualify or have such power or authority would not (i) have, singularly or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect on the business, properties, management, financial position, stockholders’ equity, results of operations or prospects of the Company and its subsidiaries taken as a whole, or (ii) impair in any material respect the ability of the Company to perform its obligations under this Agreement or the Pre-Funded Warrants or to consummate any transactions contemplated by this Agreement or the Pre-Funded Warrants (any such effect as described in clauses (i) or (ii), a “Material Adverse Effect”). The Company does not own or control, directly or indirectly, any corporation, association or other entity other than the subsidiaries listed in Exhibit 21 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
(k) Underwriting Agreement. This Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company.
(l) The Securities. The Stock to be issued and sold by the Company to the Underwriters hereunder has been duly and validly authorized and, when issued and delivered against payment therefor as provided herein, will be duly and validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable and will conform to the descriptions thereof in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus; and the issuance of the Stock is not subject to any preemptive or similar rights other than those accurately described in the General Disclosure Package. The Pre-Funded Warrants have been duly and validly authorized by the Company and, when executed and delivered by the Company, will be valid and binding agreements of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, except as the enforcement thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium or other similar laws relating to or affecting the rights and remedies of creditors or by general equitable principles, and will conform to the descriptions thereof in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus. The Warrant Shares have been duly authorized and validly reserved for issuance upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants in a number sufficient to meet the current exercise requirements.
The Warrant Shares, when issued and delivered upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants in accordance therewith, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, and will conform to the descriptions thereof in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus; and the issuance of the Warrant Shares is not subject to any preemptive or similar rights other than those accurately described in the General Disclosure Package.
(m) Capitalization. The Company has an authorized capitalization as set forth under the heading “Capitalization” in the Pricing Prospectus as of the date stated therein, and all of the issued shares of capital stock of the Company have been duly and validly authorized and issued, are fully paid and non-assessable, have been issued in compliance with federal and state securities laws, and conform to the description thereof contained or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus. All of the Company’s options, warrants and other rights to purchase or exchange any securities for shares of the Company’s capital stock have been duly authorized and validly issued and were issued in compliance with federal and state securities laws. None of the outstanding shares of Common Stock were issued in violation of any preemptive rights, rights of first refusal or other similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities of the Company. As of the date set forth in the General Disclosure Package, there were no authorized or outstanding shares of capital stock, options, warrants, preemptive rights, rights of first refusal or other rights to purchase, or equity or debt securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for, any capital stock of the Company or any of its subsidiaries other than those described above or accurately described in the General Disclosure Package. Since such date, the Company has not issued any securities other than Common Stock issued pursuant to the exercise of warrants or upon the exercise of stock options or other awards outstanding under the Company’s stock option plans, options or other securities granted or issued pursuant to the Company’s existing equity compensation plans or other plans, and the issuance of Common Stock pursuant to employee stock purchase plans. The description of the Company’s stock option, stock bonus and other stock plans or arrangements, and the options or other rights granted thereunder, as described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, accurately and fairly present the information required to be shown with respect to such plans, arrangements, options and rights.
(n) Capitalization of Subsidiaries. All the outstanding shares of capital stock (if any) of each subsidiary of the Company have been duly authorized and validly issued, are fully paid and nonassessable and, except to the extent set forth in the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus, are owned by the Company directly or indirectly through one or more wholly-owned subsidiaries, free and clear of any claim, lien, encumbrance, security interest, restriction upon voting or transfer or any other claim of any third party.
(o) No Conflicts. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement and the Pre-Funded Warrants by the Company, the issue and sale of the Securities by the Company and the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby will not (with or without notice or lapse of time or both) (i) conflict with or result in a breach or violation of any of the terms or provisions of, constitute a default or a Debt Repayment Triggering Event (as defined below) under, or result in the creation or imposition of any lien, encumbrance, security interest, claim or charge upon any property or assets of the Company or any subsidiary pursuant to, any indenture, mortgage, deed of trust, loan agreement or other agreement or instrument to which the Company or any of its subsidiaries is a party or by which the Company or any of its subsidiaries is bound or to which any of the property or assets of the Company or any of its subsidiaries is subject, (ii) result in any violation of the provisions of the charter or by-laws of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or (iii) result in the violation of any law, statute, rule, regulation, judgment, order or decree of any court or governmental or regulatory agency or body, domestic or foreign, having jurisdiction over the Company or any of its subsidiaries or any of their properties or assets except, in the case of clauses (i) and (iii) above, for any such conflict, breach, violation or default that would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect. A “Debt Repayment Triggering Event” means any event or condition that gives, or with the giving of notice or lapse of time would give the holder of any note, debenture or other evidence of indebtedness (or any person acting on such holder’s behalf) the right to require the repurchase, redemption or repayment of all or a portion of such indebtedness by the Company of any of its subsidiaries.
(p) No Consents Required. Except for the registration of the Securities under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, and such consents, approvals, authorizations, orders and registrations or qualifications as may be required by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and the Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Exchange”) in connection with the purchase and distribution of the Securities by the Underwriters and the listing of the Stock on the Exchange, no consent, approval, authorization or order of, or filing, qualification or registration (each an “Authorization”) with, any court, governmental or regulatory agency or body, foreign or domestic, which has not been made, obtained or taken and is not in full force and effect, is required for the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement and the Pre-Funded Warrants by the Company, the issuance and sale of the Securities or the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby; and no event has occurred that allows or results in, or after notice or lapse of time or both would allow or result in, revocation, suspension, termination or invalidation of any such Authorization or any other impairment of the rights of the holder or maker of any such Authorization.
(q) Independent Auditors. KPMG LLP, who have expressed opinion with respect to certain consolidated financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, is an independent registered public accounting firm with respect to the Company and its subsidiaries within the meaning of Article 2-01 of Regulation S-X and as defined by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (the “PCAOB”).
(r) Financial Statements. The financial statements, together with the related notes, included or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package, the Prospectus and in the Registration Statement fairly present the financial position and the results of operations and changes in financial position of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries at the respective dates or for the respective periods therein specified. Such statements and related notes have been prepared in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) applied on a consistent basis throughout the periods involved except as may be set forth in the related notes included or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package. The financial statements, together with the related notes, included or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus comply in all material respects with Regulation S-X. No other financial statements or supporting schedules or exhibits are required by Regulation S-X to be described, or included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus. There is no pro forma or as adjusted financial information which is required to be included in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package, or and the Prospectus or a document incorporated by reference therein in accordance with Regulation S-X which has not been included or incorporated as so required. The summary financial data included or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package, the Prospectus and the Registration Statement fairly present the information shown therein as at the respective dates and for the respective periods specified and are derived from the consolidated financial statements set forth incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, the Pricing Prospectus and the Prospectus and other financial information. All information contained in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus regarding “non-GAAP financial measures” (as defined in Regulation G) complies with Regulation G and Item 10 of Regulations S-K, to the extent applicable.
(s) No Material Adverse Change. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries has sustained, since the date of the latest audited financial statements included or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package, (i) any material loss or interference with its business from fire, explosion, flood or other calamity, whether or not covered by insurance, or from any labor dispute or action, order or decree of any court or governmental or regulatory authority, otherwise than as set forth or contemplated in the General Disclosure Package; (ii) any change in the capital stock (other than the issuance of shares of Common Stock upon exercise of stock options and warrants described as outstanding in, and the grant of options and awards under existing equity incentive plans described in, the Registration statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus) or long-term debt of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or any dividend or distribution of any kind declared, set aside for payment, paid or made by the Company on any class of capital stock, or any material adverse changes, or any development involving a prospective material adverse change, in or affecting the business, properties, assets, general affairs, management, financial position, prospects, stockholders’ equity or results of operations of the Company and its subsidiaries taken as a whole, otherwise than as set forth or contemplated in the General Disclosure Package.
(t) Legal Proceedings. Except as set forth in the General Disclosure Package, there is no legal or governmental proceeding to which the Company or any of its subsidiaries is a party or of which any property or assets of the Company or any of its subsidiaries is the subject, including any proceeding before the United States Food and Drug Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“FDA”) or comparable federal, state, local or foreign governmental bodies (it being understood that the interaction between the Company and the FDA and such comparable governmental bodies relating to the clinical development and product approval process shall not be deemed proceedings for purposes of this representation), which is required to be described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus or a document incorporated by reference therein and is not described therein, or which, singularly or in the aggregate, if determined adversely to the Company or any of its subsidiaries, could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect; and no such proceedings are threatened or, to the Company’s knowledge after reasonable investigation and due diligence inquiry (“Knowledge”), contemplated by governmental or regulatory authorities or threatened by others. The Company is in compliance with all applicable federal, state, local and foreign laws, regulations, orders and decrees governing its business as prescribed by the FDA, or any other federal, state or foreign agencies or bodies engaged in the regulation of pharmaceuticals or biohazardous substances or materials, except where noncompliance would not, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect.
All preclinical and clinical studies conducted by or on behalf of the Company to support approval for commercialization of the Company’s products have been conducted by the Company, or to the Company’s Knowledge by third parties, in compliance with all applicable federal, state or foreign laws, rules, orders and regulations, except for such failure or failures to be in compliance as could not reasonably be expected to have, singularly or in the aggregate, a Material Adverse Effect. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is a party to any corporate integrity agreements, monitoring agreements, consent decrees, settlement orders, or similar agreements with or imposed by any governmental or regulatory authority. Additionally, neither the Company, any of its subsidiaries nor any of their respective employees, officers, directors, or, to the Company’s Knowledge, agents has been excluded, suspended or debarred from participation in any U.S. federal health care program or human clinical research or, to the Company’s Knowledge, is subject to a governmental inquiry, investigation, proceeding, or other similar action that could reasonably be expected to result in debarment, suspension, or exclusion.
(u) No Violation or Default. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is (i) in violation of its charter or by-laws, (ii) in default in any respect, and no event has occurred which, with notice or lapse of time or both, would constitute such a default, in the due performance or observance of any term, covenant or condition contained in any indenture, mortgage, deed of trust, loan agreement, lease or other agreement or instrument to which it is a party or by which it is bound or to which any of its property or assets is subject or (iii) in violation in any respect of any law, ordinance, governmental rule, regulation or court order, decree or judgment to which it or its property or assets may be subject (including, without limitation, those administered by the FDA or by any foreign, federal, state or local governmental or regulatory authority performing functions similar to those performed by the FDA) except, in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) above, for any such violation or default that would not, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect.
(v) Licenses or Permits. The Company and each of its subsidiaries possess all licenses, certificates, authorizations and permits issued by, and have made all declarations and filings with, the appropriate local, state, federal or foreign governmental or regulatory agencies or bodies (including, without limitation, those administered by the FDA or by any foreign, federal, state or local governmental or regulatory authority performing functions similar to those performed by the FDA) that are necessary for the ownership or lease of their respective properties or the conduct of their respective businesses as described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (collectively, the “Governmental Permits”) except where any failures to possess or make the same would not, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect.
The Company and its subsidiaries are in compliance with all such Governmental Permits; all such Governmental Permits are valid and in full force and effect, except where the validity or failure to be in full force and effect would not, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect. Neither the Company nor any subsidiary has received notification of any revocation, material restriction, suspension, termination or invalidation (or proceedings related thereto) of any such Governmental Permit and the Company has no reason to believe that any such Governmental Permit will not be renewed.
(w) Regulatory Matters. The studies, tests and preclinical or clinical trials conducted by or on behalf of the Company that are described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (the “Company Studies and Trials”) were and, if still pending, are being, conducted in all material respects in accordance with experimental protocols, procedures and controls pursuant to, where applicable, accepted professional scientific standards to which they are subject; the descriptions of the results of the Company Studies and Trials contained in the General Disclosure Package and Prospectus are accurate in all material respects; the Company has no Knowledge of any other studies or trials not described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, the results of which are inconsistent with or call in question the results described or referred to in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus; and the Company has not received any notices or correspondence with the FDA or any foreign, state or local governmental body exercising comparable authority requiring the termination, suspension or material modification of any Company Studies or Trials that termination, suspension or material modification would reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect and, to the Company’s Knowledge, there are no reasonable grounds for the same. The Company has obtained (or caused to be obtained) informed consent by or on behalf of each human subject who participated in the Company Studies and Trials. In using or disclosing patient information received by the Company in connection with the Company Studies and Trials, the Company has complied in all material respects with all applicable laws and regulatory rules or requirements, including, without limitation, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (the “HITECH Act”) and the rules and regulations thereunder.
To the Company’s Knowledge, none of the Company Studies and Trials involved any clinical investigator who has been disqualified as a clinical investigator or has been found by the FDA to have engaged in scientific misconduct. To the Company’s Knowledge, the manufacturing facilities and operations of its suppliers are operated in compliance in all material respects with all applicable statutes, rules, and regulations of the FDA and comparable regulatory agencies outside of the United States to which the Company is subject.
(x) Regulatory Compliance. The Company has not received any unresolved FDA Form 483, notice of adverse filing, warning letter, untitled letter or other correspondence or notice from the FDA, or any other court or arbitrator or federal, state, local, or foreign governmental or regulatory authority, alleging or asserting noncompliance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S..C § 301 et seq.) (the “FDCA”). The Company and its directors, officers, employees, or, to the Company’s Knowledge, agents is and have been in material compliance with applicable health care laws, including without limitation, the FDCA, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)), the civil False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq.), the criminal False Claims Law (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(a)), the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7a), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. § 1320d et seq.), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (42 U.S.C. § 17921 et seq.) the exclusion laws (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7), Medicare (Title XVIII of the Social Security Act), Medicaid (Title XIX of the Social Security Act), and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, including, without limitation, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7h), and the regulation promulgated pursuant to such laws, and comparable state laws, and all other local, state, federal, national, supranational, and foreign laws relating to the regulation of the Company (collectively, “Health Care Laws). The Company has not, either voluntarily or involuntarily, initiated, conducted or issued or caused to be initiated, conducted or issued, any recall, market withdrawal or replacement, safety alert, post sale warning, “dear doctor” letter, or other notice or action relating to the alleged lack of safety or efficacy of any product or any alleged product defect or violation and, to the Company’s Knowledge, no third-party has initiated or conducted any such notice or action. Neither the Company nor any of its officers, directors, employees, or, to the Company’s Knowledge, agents has been or is currently excluded from participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs or any other state or federal health care program.
(y) Healthcare Care Product Manufacturing. The manufacture of the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ products and product candidates by or on behalf of the Company and its subsidiaries is being conducted in compliance in all material respects with all applicable Health Care Laws, including, without limitation, the FDA’s current good manufacturing practice regulations at 21 CFR Part 820 applicable to the Company, and, to the extent applicable, the respective counterparts thereof promulgated by governmental authorities in countries outside the United States. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries has had any manufacturing site (whether Company-owned, subsidiary-owned or that of a third party manufacturer for the Company’s or its subsidiaries’ product candidates) subject to a governmental authority (including FDA or the European Medicines Agency “EMA”) shutdown or import or export prohibition, nor received any FDA, EMA or other governmental authority “warning letters,” or “untitled letters” alleging or asserting material noncompliance with any applicable Health Care Laws, requests to make material changes to the Company’s or its subsidiaries’ product candidates, processes or operations, or similar correspondence or notice from the FDA, EMA or other governmental authority alleging or asserting material noncompliance with any applicable Health Care Laws, other than those that have been satisfactorily addressed and/or closed with the FDA, EMA or other governmental authority. To the Company’s Knowledge, neither the FDA, EMA nor any other governmental authority is considering such action.
(z) Investment Company Act. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is or, after giving effect to the offering of the Securities and the application of the proceeds thereof as described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, will be required to register as an “investment company” or an entity “controlled” by an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder.
(aa) No Stabilization. Neither the Company nor, to the Company’s Knowledge, any of its officers, directors or affiliates has taken or will take, directly or indirectly, any action designed or intended to stabilize or manipulate the price of any security of the Company, or which caused or resulted in, or which might in the future reasonably be expected to cause or result in, stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security of the Company.
(bb) Intellectual Property. The Company and its subsidiaries own or possess the valid right to use all (i) valid and enforceable patents, patent applications, trademarks, trademark registrations, service marks, service mark registrations, Internet domain name registrations, copyrights, copyright registrations, licenses, trade secret rights (“Intellectual Property Rights”) and (ii) inventions, software, works of authorships, trademarks, service marks, trade names, databases, formulae, know how, Internet domain names and other intellectual property (including trade secrets and other unpatented and/or unpatentable proprietary confidential information, systems, or procedures) (collectively, “Intellectual Property Assets”) necessary to conduct their respective businesses as currently conducted, and as proposed to be conducted and described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus. The Company and its subsidiaries have not received any opinion from their legal counsel concluding that any activities of their respective businesses infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate, valid and enforceable Intellectual Property Rights of any other person, and have not received written notice of any challenge, which is to their Knowledge still pending, by any other person to the rights of the Company and its subsidiaries with respect to any Intellectual Property Rights or Intellectual Property Assets owned or used by the Company or its subsidiaries. To the Company’s Knowledge, the Company and its subsidiaries’ respective businesses as now conducted do not give rise to any infringement of, any misappropriation of, or other violation of, any valid and enforceable Intellectual Property Rights of any other person. All licenses for the use of the Intellectual Property Rights described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus are valid, binding upon, and enforceable by or against the parties thereto in accordance to its terms. The Company has complied in all material respects with, and is not in breach nor has received any asserted or threatened claim of breach of any Intellectual Property license, and the Company has no Knowledge of any breach or anticipated breach by any other person to any Intellectual Property license. Except as described in the General Disclosure Package, no claim has been made against the Company alleging the infringement by the Company of any patent, trademark, service mark, trade name, copyright, trade secret, license in or other intellectual property right or franchise right of any person. The Company has taken all reasonable steps to protect, maintain and safeguard its Intellectual Property Rights, including the execution of appropriate nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. The consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement will not result in the loss or impairment of or payment of any additional amounts with respect to, nor require the consent of any other person in respect of, the Company’s right to own, use, or hold for use any of the Intellectual Property Rights as owned, used or held for use in the conduct of the business as currently conducted.
(cc) Privacy Laws. The Company and its subsidiaries are, and at all prior times were, in material compliance with all applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations, including, without limitation, HIPPA and the HITECH Act; and the Company and its subsidiaries have taken all necessary actions to be in material compliance with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) (EU 2016/679) (collectively, “Privacy Laws”). To ensure compliance with the Privacy Laws, the Company and its subsidiaries have in place, comply with, and take appropriate steps reasonably designed to ensure compliance in all material respects with their policies and procedures relating to data privacy and security and the collection, storage, use, disclosure, handling and analysis of Personal Data (the “Policies”). The Company provides accurate notice of its Policies to individuals from whom Personal Data are collected, to the extent that such notice is required by applicable Privacy Laws. The Policies provide accurate and sufficient notice of the Company’s then-current privacy practices relating to its subject matter. “Personal Data” means (i) a natural persons’ name, street address, telephone number, email address, photograph, social security number, bank information, or customer or account number; (ii) any information which would qualify as “personally identifying information” under the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended; (iii) Protected Health Information as defined by HIPAA; (iv) “personal data” as defined by GDPR; and (v) any other piece of information that allows the identification of such natural person, or his or her family, or permits the collection or analysis of any data related to an identified person’s health or sexual orientation. None of such disclosures made or contained in any of the Policies have been inaccurate, misleading, deceptive or in violation of any Privacy Laws or Policies in any material respect. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement or any other agreement referred to in this Agreement will not result in a breach of any Privacy Laws or Policies. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries, (i) has received notice of any actual or potential liability under or relating to, or non-compliance with or violation of, any of the Privacy Laws, and has no Knowledge of any event or condition that would reasonably be expected to result in any such notice; (ii) is currently conducting or paying for, in whole or in part, any investigation, remediation or other corrective action pursuant to any Privacy Law; or (iii) is a party to any order, decree, or agreement that imposed any obligation or liability under any Privacy Law.
(dd) IT Systems. (i)(x) To the Company’s Knowledge, there has been no security breach or attack or other compromise of or relating to any of the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ information technology and computer systems, networks, hardware, software, data (including the data of their respective customers, employees, suppliers, vendors and any third party data maintained by or on behalf of them), equipment or technology (“IT Systems and Data”), and (y) the Company and its subsidiaries have not been notified of, and have no Knowledge of any event or condition that would reasonably be expected to result in any material security breach, attack or compromise to their IT Systems and Data, (ii) the Company and its subsidiaries have complied, and are presently in compliance with, all applicable laws, statutes or any judgment, order, rule or regulation of any court or arbitrator or governmental or regulatory authority relating to the privacy and security of its IT Systems and Data and to the protection of such IT Systems and Data from unauthorized use, access, misappropriation or modification and (iii) the Company and its subsidiaries have implemented backup and disaster recovery technology consistent with industry standards and practice.
(ee) Title to Real and Personal Property. The Company and each of its subsidiaries have good and marketable title in and (in the case of real property) to, or have valid and marketable rights to lease or otherwise use, all items of real or personal property which are material to the business of the Company and its subsidiaries taken as a whole, in each case free and clear of all liens, encumbrances, security interests, claims and defects that (i) do not, singularly or in the aggregate, materially affect the value of such property and do not materially interfere with the use made and proposed to be made of such property by the Company or any of its subsidiaries or (ii) could not reasonably be expected, singularly or in the aggregate, to have a Material Adverse Effect.
(ff) No Labor Dispute. There is (A) no significant unfair labor practice complaint pending against the Company, or any of its subsidiaries, nor to the Company’s Knowledge, threatened against it or any of its subsidiaries, before the National Labor Relations Board, any state or local labor relation board or any foreign labor relations board, and no significant grievance or significant arbitration proceeding arising out of or under any collective bargaining agreement is so pending against the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or, to the Company’s Knowledge, threatened against it and (B) no labor disturbance by or dispute with, employees of the Company or any of its subsidiaries exists or, to the Company’s Knowledge, is contemplated or threatened, and the Company is not aware of any existing or imminent labor disturbance by the employees of any of its or its subsidiaries’ principal suppliers, manufacturers, customers or contractors, that could reasonably be expected, singularly or in the aggregate, to have a Material Adverse Effect. The Company is not aware that any key employee or significant group of employees of the Company or any subsidiary plans to terminate employment with the Company or any such subsidiary.
(gg) Compliance with ERISA. No “prohibited transaction” (as defined in Section 406 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, including the regulations and published interpretations thereunder (“ERISA”), or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time (the “Code”)) or “accumulated funding deficiency” (as defined in Section 302 of ERISA) or any of the events set forth in Section 4043(b) of ERISA (other than events with respect to which the thirty (30)-day notice requirement under Section 4043 of ERISA has been waived) has occurred or could reasonably be expected to occur with respect to any employee benefit plan of the Company or any of its subsidiaries which could, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect. Each employee benefit plan of the Company or any of its subsidiaries is in compliance in all material respects with applicable law, including ERISA and the Code. The Company and its subsidiaries have not incurred and could not reasonably be expected to incur liability under Title IV of ERISA with respect to the termination of, or withdrawal from, any pension plan (as defined in ERISA). Each pension plan for which the Company or any of its subsidiaries would have any liability that is intended to be qualified under Section 401(a) of the Code is so qualified, and nothing has occurred, whether by action or by failure to act, which could, singularly or in the aggregate, cause the loss of such qualification.
(hh) Environmental Laws and Hazardous Materials. The Company and its subsidiaries are in compliance with all foreign, federal, state and local rules, laws and regulations relating to the use, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous or toxic substances or waste and protection of health and safety or the environment which are applicable to their businesses (“Environmental Laws”). There has been no storage, generation, transportation, handling, treatment, disposal, discharge, emission, or other release of any kind of toxic or other wastes or other hazardous substances by, due to, or caused by the Company or any of its subsidiaries (or, to the Company’s Knowledge, any other entity for whose acts or omissions the Company or any of its subsidiaries is or may otherwise be liable) upon any of the property now or previously owned or leased by the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or upon any other property, in violation of any law, statute, ordinance, rule, regulation, order, judgment, decree or permit or which would, under any law, statute, ordinance, rule (including rule of common law), regulation, order, judgment, decree or permit, give rise to any liability; and there has been no disposal, discharge, emission or other release of any kind onto such property or into the environment surrounding such property of any toxic or other wastes or other hazardous substances with respect to which the Company or any of its subsidiaries has knowledge.
(ii) Taxes. The Company and its subsidiaries each (i) have timely filed all necessary federal, state, local and foreign tax returns required to be filed through the date of this Agreement (taking into account applicable extensions), and all such returns were true, complete and correct, (ii) have paid all federal, state, local and foreign taxes, for which it is liable, including, without limitation, all sales and use taxes and all taxes which the Company or any of its subsidiaries is obligated to withhold from amounts owing to employees, creditors and third parties, and (iii) do not have any tax deficiency or claims outstanding or assessed or, to its Knowledge, proposed against any of them, except those, in each of the cases described in clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) above, that would not, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect.
(jj) Insurance. The Company and each of its subsidiaries carry, or are covered by, insurance in such amounts and covering such risks as is adequate for the conduct of their respective businesses and the value of their respective properties. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries has any reason to believe that it will not be able to renew its existing insurance coverage as and when such coverage expires or to obtain similar coverage from similar insurers as may be necessary to continue its business at a cost that would not have a Material Adverse Effect. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries has received written notice from any insurer, agent of such insurer or the broker of the Company or any of its subsidiaries that any material capital improvements or any other material expenditures (other than premium payments) are required or necessary to be made in order to continue such insurance.
(kk) Accounting Controls. The Company and each of its subsidiaries maintains a system of “internal control over financial reporting” (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the General Rules and Regulations under the Exchange Act (the “Exchange Act Rules”)) that complies with the requirements of the Exchange Act and has been designed by their respective principal executive and principal financial officers, or under their supervision, to provide reasonable assurances that (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorizations; (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP and to maintain accountability for assets; (iii) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization; (iv) the recorded accountability for assets is compared with existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences and (v) interactive data in eXtensible Business Reporting Language included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement fairly presents the Commission’s rules and guidelines applicable thereto. The Company’s internal control over financial reporting is effective. Except as described in the General Disclosure Package, since the end of the Company’s most recent audited fiscal year, there has been (A) no material weakness in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (whether or not remediated) and (B) no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
(ll) Disclosure Controls. The Company and its subsidiaries maintain disclosure controls and procedures (as such is defined in Rule 13a-15(e) of the Exchange Act Rules) that comply with the requirements of the Exchange Act; such disclosure controls and procedures have been designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company and its subsidiaries in reports that they file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Commission’s rules and forms, including controls and procedures designed to ensure that such information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management to allow timely decisions regarding disclosures. The Company and its subsidiaries have conducted evaluations of the effectiveness of their disclosure controls as required by Rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act.
(mm) Minute Books. The requested minute books of the Company have been made available to the Underwriters and counsel for the Underwriters, and such books (i) contain a complete summary of all meetings and actions of the board of directors (including each board committee) and stockholders of the Company (or analogous governing bodies and interest holders, as applicable), or organization through the date of the latest meeting and action, and (ii) accurately in all material respects reflect all transactions referred to in such minutes.
(nn) No Undisclosed Relationships. No relationship, direct or indirect, exists between or among the Company or any of its subsidiaries on the one hand, and the directors, officers, stockholders (or analogous interest holders), customers or suppliers of the Company or any of its affiliates on the other hand, which is required by the Securities Act to be described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus or a document incorporated by reference therein and which is not so described.
(oo) No Registration Rights. No person or entity has the right to require registration of shares of Common Stock or other securities of the Company or any of its subsidiaries because of the filing or effectiveness of the Registration Statement or otherwise, except for persons and entities who have expressly waived such right in writing or who have been given timely and proper written notice and have failed to exercise such right within the time or times required under the terms and conditions of such right. Except as described in the General Disclosure Package, there are no persons with registration rights or similar rights to have any securities registered by the Company or any of its subsidiaries under the Securities Act.
(pp) Margin Rules. The application of the proceeds received by the Company from the issuance, sale and delivery of the Securities as described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus will not violate Regulation T, U or X of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system or any other regulation of such Board of Governors.
(qq) No Broker’s Fees. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is a party to any contract, agreement or understanding with any person (other than this Agreement) that would give rise to a valid claim against the Company or any of its subsidiaries or the Underwriters for a brokerage commission, finder’s fee or like payment in connection with the offering and sale of the Securities or any transaction contemplated by this Agreement, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus.
(rr) No Restrictions on Subsidiaries. Except as described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, no subsidiary of the Company is currently prohibited, directly or indirectly, under any agreement or other instrument to which it is a party or is subject, from paying any dividends to the Company, from making any other distribution on such subsidiary’s capital stock, from repaying to the Company any loans or advances to such subsidiary from the Company or from transferring any of such subsidiary’s properties or assets to the Company or any other subsidiary of the Company.
(ss) PFIC. The Company is not a Passive Foreign Investment Company (“PFIC”) within the meaning of Section 1296 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1966, and the Company is not likely to become a PFIC.
(tt) Forward-Looking Statements. No forward-looking statement (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act) contained or incorporated by reference in either the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus has been made or reaffirmed without a reasonable basis or has been disclosed other than in good faith.
(uu) Listing. The Company is subject to and in compliance in all material respects with the reporting requirements of Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. The Common Stock is registered pursuant to Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Exchange Act and is listed on the Exchange, and the Company has taken no action designed to, or reasonably likely to have the effect of, terminating the registration of the Common Stock under the Exchange Act or delisting the Common Stock from the Exchange, nor has the Company received any notification that the Commission or FINRA is contemplating terminating such registration or listing.
(vv) Sarbanes-Oxley Act. There is and has been no failure on the part of the company or, to the Company’s Knowledge, any of the Company’s officers or directors, in their capacities as such, to comply with any provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations promulgated in connection therewith (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), including Section 402 related to loans and Sections 302 and 906 related to certifications.
(ww) No Unlawful Payments. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries nor, to the Company’s Knowledge, any directory, officer, employee, agent, affiliate or other person acting on behalf of the Company or any subsidiary, has (i) used any corporate funds for unlawful contributions, gifts, entertainment or other unlawful expenses relating to political activity, (ii) made any direct or indirect unlawful payment to foreign or domestic government officials or employees, political parties or campaigns, political party officials, or candidates for political office from corporate funds, (iii) violated or is in violation of any provision of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or any applicable anti-corruption laws, rules, or regulation of any other jurisdiction in which the Company or any subsidiary conducts business, or (iv) made any other unlawful bribe, rebate, payoff, influence payment, kickback, or other unlawful payment to any person.
(xx) Statistical and Market Data. The statistical and market related data included in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus are based on or derived from sources that the Company believes to be reliable and accurate, and such data agree with the sources from which they are derived.
(yy) Compliance with Money Laundering Laws. The operations of the Company and its subsidiaries are and have been conducted at all times in compliance with all applicable financial recordkeeping and reporting requirements, including those of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by Title III of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act), and the applicable anti-money laundering statutes of jurisdictions where the Company and its subsidiaries conduct business, the rules and regulations thereunder and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, issued, administered or enforced by any governmental agency (collectively, the “Anti-Money Laundering Laws”), and no action, suit or proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body or any arbitrator involving the Company or any of its subsidiaries with respect to the Anti-Money Laundering Laws is pending or, to the Company’s Knowledge, threatened.
(zz) Compliance with OFAC.
| (A) | Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries, nor any director, officer or employee thereof, nor, to the Company’s Knowledge, any agent, affiliate, representative or other person acting on behalf of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, is an individual or entity (“Person”) that is, or is owned or controlled by a Person that is: (i) the subject of any economic, financial or trade sanctions administered or enforced by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), the United Nations Security Council (“UNSC”), the European Union (“EU”), His Majesty’s Treasury of the United Kingdom (“HMT”), the Swiss Secretariat of Economic Affairs, or other relevant sanctions authority (collectively, “Sanctions”), nor (ii) located, organized or resident in a country or territory that is the subject of a U.S. government embargo (including, without limitation, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, the Crimea Region of Ukraine, the non-government controlled areas of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions of Ukraine (or any other Covered Region of Ukraine as identified pursuant to Executive Order 14065), Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria). |
| (B) | The Company will not, directly or indirectly, use the proceeds of the offering, or lend, contribute or otherwise make available such proceeds to any subsidiary, joint venture partner or other Person: (i) to fund or facilitate any activities or business of or with any Person that, at the time of such funding or facilitation, is the subject of Sanctions, or in any country or territory that, at the time of such funding or facilitation, is the subject of a U.S. government embargo; or (ii) in any other manner that will result in a violation of Sanctions by any Person (including any Person participating in the offering, whether as underwriter, advisor, investor or otherwise). |
| (C) | For the past ten (10) years, the Company and its subsidiaries have not knowingly engaged in, are not now knowingly engaged in, and will not engage in, any direct or indirect dealings or transactions with any Person that at the time of the dealing or transaction is or was the subject of Sanctions or any country or territory that, at the time of the dealing or transaction is or was the subject of a U.S. government embargo. |
(aaa) No Associated Persons; FINRA Matters. Neither the Company nor any of its affiliates (within the meaning of FINRA Rule 5121(f)(1)) directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, or is an associated person (within the meaning of Article I, Section 1(ee) of the By-laws of FINRA) of, any member firm of FINRA. The Company qualifies as an “experienced issuer” (within the meaning of FINRA Conduct Rule 5110(j)(6)) for purposes of the exemption from filing under FINRA Conduct Rule 5110(h)(1)(C).
(bbb) No Acquisitions or Dispositions. Except as are described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, there are no contracts, letters of intent, term sheets, agreement, arrangements or understandings with respect to the direct or indirect acquisition or disposition by the Company of material interests in real or personal property.
(ccc) Export and Import Laws. Each of the Company and the subsidiaries, and, to the Company’s Knowledge, each of their affiliates and any director, officer, agent or employee of, or other person associated with or acting on behalf of, the Company has acted at all times in compliance with applicable Export and Import Laws (as defined below) and there are no claims, complaints, charges, investigations or proceedings pending or expected or, to the Company’s Knowledge, threatened between the Company or any of the subsidiaries and any governmental authority under any Export or Import Laws. The term “Export and Import Laws” means the Arms Export Control Act, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended, the Export Administration Regulations, and all other laws and regulations of the United States government regulating the provision of services to non-U.S. parties or the export and import of articles or information from and to the United States of America, and all similar laws and regulations of any foreign government regulating the provision of services to parties not of the foreign country or the export and import of articles and information from and to the foreign country to parties not of the foreign country.
(ddd) Outbound Investment Security Program. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is a “covered foreign person”, as that term is defined in 31 C.F.R. § 850.209. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries currently engages, or has plans to engage, directly or indirectly, in a “covered activity”, as that term is defined in in 31 C.F.R. § 850.208 (“Covered Activity”). The Company does not have any joint ventures that engages in or plans to engage in any Covered Activity. The Company also does not, directly or indirectly, hold a board seat on, have a voting or equity interest in, or have any contractual power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of any person or persons that engages or plans to engage in any Covered Activity.
Any certificate signed by or on behalf of the Company and delivered to the Representatives or to counsel for the Underwriters shall be deemed to be a representation and warranty by the Company to each Underwriter as to the matters covered thereby.
3. PURCHASE, SALE AND DELIVERY OF OFFERED SECURITIES. On the basis of the representations, warranties and agreements herein contained, but subject to the terms and conditions herein set forth, the Company agrees to sell to the Underwriters, and the Underwriters agree, severally and not jointly, to purchase from the Company the respective numbers of shares of Firm Stock and Pre-Funded Warrants set forth opposite the names of the Underwriters in Schedule A hereto.
The purchase price per share to be paid by the Underwriters to the Company for the Stock will be $11.28 per share (the “Common Stock Purchase Price”) and $11.279 per Pre-Funded Warrant (the “Pre-Funded Warrant Purchase Price”).
The Company will deliver the Firm Stock to the Representatives for the respective accounts of the several Underwriters, through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company, issued in such names and in such denominations as the Representatives may direct by notice in writing to the Company given at or prior to 12:00 p.m., New York time, on the business day preceding the Firm Closing Date against payment of the aggregate Purchase Price therefor by wire transfer in federal (same day) funds to an account at a bank specified by the Company payable to the order of the Company. Time shall be of the essence, and delivery at the time and place specified pursuant to this Agreement is a further condition of the obligations of each Underwriter hereunder. The time and date of the delivery and closing shall be at 10:00 a.m., New York time, on June 26, 2025, in accordance with Rule 15c6-1 of the Exchange Act. The time and date of such payment and delivery are herein referred to as the “Firm Closing Date”. The Firm Closing Date and the location of delivery of, and the form of payment for, the Firm Stock may be varied by written agreement between the Company and the Representatives. The Pre-Funded Warrants shall be delivered to the Representative in definitive form, registered in such names and in such denominations as the Representative shall request in writing not later than the Closing Date. The Pre-Funded Warrants will be made available for inspection by the Representatives on the business day prior to the Closing Date.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company and the Representatives shall instruct the purchasers of the Pre-Funded Warrants to make payment for such Pre-Funded Warrants on the Closing Date to the Company by wire transfer in immediately available funds to the account specified by the Company for the aggregate Pre-Funded Warrant Purchase Price, in lieu of payment by the Underwriters for such Pre-Funded Warrants, and the Company shall deliver the Pre-Funded Warrants to such purchasers on such date in definitive paper form against such payment, in lieu of the Company’s obligation to deliver such Warrants to the Representatives; provided that, the Underwriters shall withhold $0.72 per Pre-Funded Warrant as an offset against the payment owed by the Underwriters to the Company for the Firm Stock as payment for the underwriting discounts and commissions in respect of the Pre-Funded Warrants. In the event that any purchaser of the Pre-Funded Warrants fails to make payment to the Company for all or part of the Pre-Funded Warrants on the Closing Date, the Representatives shall either (i) make payment to the Company for such Pre-Funded Warrants specified in this Section 3 or (ii) elect, by written notice to the Company, to receive Common Stock at the Common Stock Purchase Price specified in this Section 3 in lieu of all or a portion of such Pre-Funded Warrants contemplated to be sold under this Agreement.
The Underwriters may purchase all or less than all of the Optional Stock. The price per share to be paid for the Optional Stock shall be the Purchase Price. The Company agrees to sell to the Underwriters the number of shares of Optional Stock specified in the written notice delivered by the Representatives to the Company described below and the Underwriters agree, severally and not jointly, to purchase such shares of Optional Stock. Such shares of Optional Stock shall be purchased from the Company for the account of each Underwriter in the same proportion as the number of shares of Firm Stock set forth opposite such Underwriter’s name on Schedule A bears to the total number of shares of Firm Stock (subject to adjustment by the Representatives to eliminate fractions). The option granted hereby may be exercised as to all or any part of the Optional Stock at any time, and from time to time, provided however, that notice of such exercise must be delivered not more than thirty (30) days subsequent to the date of this Agreement. No Optional Stock shall be sold and delivered unless the Firm Stock previously has been, or simultaneously is, sold and delivered. The right to purchase the Optional Stock or any portion thereof may be surrendered and terminated at any time upon notice by Representatives to the Company.
The option granted hereby shall be exercised by written notice being given to the Company by the Representatives setting forth the number of shares of the Optional Stock to be purchased by the Underwriters and the date and time for delivery of and payment for the Optional Stock. Each date and time for delivery of and payment for the Optional Stock (which may be the Firm Closing Date, but not earlier) is herein called the “Option Closing Date” and shall in no event be earlier than one business day nor later than five business days after written notice is given. Any Option Closing Date and the Firm Closing Date are herein called the “Closing Dates.”
The Company will deliver the Optional Stock to the Representatives for the respective accounts of the several Underwriters, through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company, issued in such names and in such denominations as the Representatives may direct by notice in writing to the Company given at or prior to 12:00 p.m., New York time, on the business day preceding the Option Closing Date against payment of the aggregate Purchase Price therefor by wire transfer in federal (same day) funds to an account at a bank acceptable to the Representatives payable to the order of the Company. Time shall be of the essence, and delivery at the time and place specified pursuant to this Agreement is a further condition of the obligations of each Underwriter hereunder. The Option Closing Date and the location of delivery of, and the form of payment for, the Optional Stock may be varied by agreement between the Company and the Representatives.
The several Underwriters propose to offer the Securities for sale upon the terms and conditions set forth in the Prospectus. The Company acknowledges and agrees that the Underwriters may offer and sell Securities to or through any affiliate of an Underwriter.
4. FURTHER AGREEMENTS. The Company agrees with the several Underwriters:
(a) Required Filings; Amendments or Supplements; Notice to the Representatives. To prepare the Prospectus in a form approved by the Representatives containing information previously omitted at the time of effectiveness of the Registration Statement in reliance on Rule 430B of the Rules and Regulations and to file such Prospectus pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the Rules and Regulations not later than the second (2nd) business day following the execution and delivery of this Agreement or, if applicable, such earlier time as may be required by the Securities Act; to notify the Representatives immediately of the Company’s intention to file or prepare any supplement or amendment to the Registration Statement or to the Prospectus and to make no amendment or supplement to the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or to the Prospectus to which the Representatives shall reasonably object by notice to the Company after a reasonable period to review; to advise the Representatives, promptly after it receives notice thereof, of the time when any amendment to the Registration Statement has been filed or becomes effective or any supplement to the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus or any amended Prospectus or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or any Written Testing-the-Waters Communication has been filed and to furnish the Underwriters with copies thereof; to file promptly all material required to be filed by the Company with the Commission pursuant to Rules 433(d) or 163(b)(2) of the Rules and Regulations, as the case may be; to file promptly all reports and any definitive proxy or information statements required to be filed by the Company with the Commission pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act subsequent to the date of the Prospectus and for so long as the delivery of a prospectus (or in lieu thereof, the notice referred to in Rule 173(a) of the Rules and Regulations) is required in connection with the offering or sale of the Securities; to advise the Representatives, promptly after it receives notice thereof, of the issuance by the Commission of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, the Prospectus or any Written Testing-the-Waters Communication, of the suspension of the qualification of the Securities for offering or sale in any jurisdiction, of the initiation or threatening of any proceeding for any such purpose, or of any request by the Commission for the amending or supplementing of the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus or for additional information including, but not limited to, any request for information concerning any Testing-the-Waters Communication; and, in the event of the issuance of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or the Prospectus or suspending any such qualification, and promptly to use its best efforts to obtain the withdrawal of such order.
(b) Permitted Free Writing Prospectus. The Company represents and agrees that, unless it obtains the prior consent of the Representatives, and each Underwriter represents and agrees that, unless it obtains the prior consent of the Company and the Representatives, it has not made and will not, make any offer relating to the Securities that would constitute a “free writing prospectus” as defined in Rule 405 of the Rules and Regulations unless the prior written consent of the Representatives has been received (each, a “Permitted Free Writing Prospectus”); provided that the prior written consent of the Representatives hereto shall be deemed to have been given in respect of any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus included in Schedule B hereto. The Company represents that it has treated and agrees that it will treat each Permitted Free Writing Prospectus as an Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, comply with the requirements of Rules 164 and 433 of the Rules and Regulations applicable to any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, including the requirements relating to timely filing with the Commission, legending and record keeping and will not take any action that would result in an Underwriter or the Company being required to file with the Commission pursuant to Rule 433(d) of the Rules and Regulations a free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of such Underwriter that such Underwriter otherwise would not have been required to file thereunder.
(c) Ongoing Compliance. If at any time prior to the date when a prospectus relating to the Securities is required to be delivered (or in lieu thereof, the notice referred to in Rule 173(a) under the Securities Act) any event occurs or condition exists as a result of which the Prospectus as then amended or supplemented would include any untrue statement of a material fact, or omit to state any material fact necessary to make the statements therein, in light of the circumstances under which they were made when the Prospectus is delivered (or in lieu thereof, the notice referred to in Rule 173(a) of the Rules and Regulations), not misleading, or if it is necessary at any time to amend or supplement the Registration Statement or the Prospectus or to file under the Exchange Act any document incorporated by reference in the Prospectus to comply with the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, that the Company will promptly notify the Representatives thereof and upon their request will prepare an appropriate amendment or supplement or upon their request make an appropriate filing pursuant to Section 13 or 14 of the Exchange Act in form and substance satisfactory to the Representatives which will correct such statement or omission or effect such compliance and will use its reasonable best efforts to have any amendment to the Registration Statement declared effective as soon as possible. The Company will furnish without charge to each Underwriter and to any dealer in securities as many copies as the Representatives may from time to time reasonably request of such amendment or supplement. In case any Underwriter is required to deliver a prospectus (or in lieu thereof, the notice referred to in Rule 173(a) of the Rules and Regulations) relating to the Securities, the Company upon the request of the Representatives will prepare promptly an amended or supplemented Prospectus as may be necessary to permit compliance with the requirements of Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act and deliver to such Underwriter as many copies as such Underwriter may request of such amended or supplemented Prospectus complying with Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act.
(d) Amendment to General Disclosure Package. If the General Disclosure Package is being used to solicit offers to buy the Securities at a time when the Prospectus is not yet available to prospective purchasers and any event shall occur as a result of which, in the judgment of the Company or in the reasonable opinion of the Underwriters, it becomes necessary to amend or supplement the General Disclosure Package in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances then prevailing, not misleading, or to make the statements therein not conflict with the information contained or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement then on file and not superseded or modified, or if it is necessary at any time to amend or supplement the General Disclosure Package to comply with any law, the Company promptly will either (i) prepare, file with the Commission (if required) and furnish to the Underwriters and any dealers an appropriate amendment or supplement to the General Disclosure Package or (ii) prepare and file with the Commission an appropriate filing under the Exchange Act which shall be incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package so that the General Disclosure Package as so amended or supplemented will not, in the light of the circumstances then prevailing, be misleading or conflict with the Registration Statement then on file, or so that the General Disclosure Package will comply with law.
(e) Amendment to Issuer Free Writing Prospectus. If at any time following issuance of an Issuer Free Writing Prospectus there occurred or occurs an event or development as a result of which such Issuer Free Writing Prospectus conflicted or will conflict with the information contained in the Registration Statement, Pricing Prospectus or Prospectus, including any document incorporated by reference therein and any prospectus supplement deemed to be a part thereof and not superseded or modified or included or would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted or would omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances prevailing at the subsequent time, not misleading, the Company has promptly notified or will promptly notify the Representatives so that any use of the Issuer Free Writing Prospectus may cease until it is amended or supplemented and has promptly amended or will promptly amend or supplement, at its own expense, such Issuer Free Writing Prospectus to eliminate or correct such conflict, untrue statement or omission. The foregoing sentence does not apply to statements in or omissions from any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus in reliance upon, and in conformity with, written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information the parties hereto agree is limited to the Underwriters’ Information.
(f) Delivery of Registration Statement. To the extent not available on the Commission’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system or any successor system (“EDGAR”), upon the request of the Representatives, to furnish promptly to the Representatives and to counsel for the Underwriters a signed copy of the Registration Statement as originally filed with the Commission, and of each amendment thereto filed with the Commission, including all consents and exhibits filed therewith.
(g) Delivery of Copies.
Upon request of the Representatives, to the extent not available on EDGAR, to deliver promptly to the Representatives in New York City such number of the following documents as the Representatives shall reasonably request: (i) conformed copies of the Registration Statement as originally filed with the Commission (in each case excluding exhibits), (ii) each Preliminary Prospectus, (iii) any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, (iv) the Prospectus (the delivery of the documents referred to in clauses (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) of this paragraph (g) to be made not later than 10:00 a.m., New York time, on the business day following the execution and delivery of this Agreement), (v) conformed copies of any amendment to the Registration Statement (excluding exhibits), (vi) any amendment or supplement to the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus (the delivery of the documents referred to in clauses (v) and (vi) of this paragraph (g) to be made not later than 10:00 a.m., New York time, on the business day following the date of such amendment or supplement) and (vii) any document incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus (excluding exhibits thereto) (the delivery of the documents referred to in clause (vi) of this paragraph (g) to be made not later than 10:00 a.m., New York time, on the business day following the date of such document).
(h) Earnings Statement. To make generally available to its stockholders as soon as practicable, but in any event not later than sixteen (16) months after the effective date of the Registration Statement (as defined in Rule 158(c) of the Rules and Regulations), an earnings statement of the Company and its subsidiaries (which need not be audited) complying with Section 11(a) of the Securities Act (including, at the option of the Company, Rule 158).
(i) Blue Sky Compliance. To take promptly from time to time such actions as the Representatives may reasonably request to qualify the Securities for offering and sale under the securities or Blue Sky laws of such jurisdictions (domestic or foreign) as the Representatives may reasonably designate and to continue such qualifications in effect, and to comply with such laws, for so long as required to permit the offer and sale of the Securities in such jurisdictions; provided that the Company and its subsidiaries shall not be obligated to (i) qualify as foreign corporations in any jurisdiction in which they are not so qualified, (ii) file a general consent to service of process in any jurisdiction or (iii) subject itself to taxation in any such jurisdiction if it is not otherwise so subject.
(j) Reports. Upon request, during the period of five (5) years from the date hereof, to deliver to each of the Underwriters, (i) as soon as they are available, copies of all reports or other communications (financial or other) furnished to stockholders, and (ii) as soon as they are available, copies of any reports and financial statements furnished or filed with the Commission or any national securities exchange on which the Securities is listed. However, so long as the Company is subject to the reporting requirements of either Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act and is timely filing reports on EDGAR, it is not required to furnish such reports or statements to the Underwriters.
(k) Lock-Up. During the period commencing on and including the date hereof and ending on and including the ninetieth (90th) day following the date of this Agreement, (the “Lock-Up Period”) the Company will not, without the prior written consent of TD Securities (USA) LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C. and Guggenheim Securities, LLC (which consent may be withheld at their sole discretion), directly or indirectly offer, sell (including, without limitation, any short sale), assign, transfer, pledge, contract to sell, establish an open “put equivalent position” within the meaning of Rule 16a-1(h) under the Exchange Act, or otherwise dispose of, or announce the offering of, or submit or file any registration statement under the Securities Act in respect of, any Common Stock, options, rights or warrants to acquire Common Stock or securities exchangeable or exercisable for or convertible into Common Stock (other than is contemplated by this Agreement with respect to the Securities) or publicly announce any intention to do any of the foregoing; provided, however, that the Company may (i) issue Common Stock, restricted stock units and options to purchase Common Stock, shares of Common Stock underlying restricted stock units and options granted and other securities, each pursuant to any director or employee stock option plan, stock ownership plan or dividend reinvestment plan of the Company in effect on the date hereof and described in the General Disclosure Package; (ii) issue Common Stock pursuant to the conversion of securities or the exercise of warrants, which securities or warrants are outstanding on the date hereof and described in the General Disclosure Package; (iii) adopt a new equity incentive plan, and file a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register the offer and sale of securities to be issued pursuant to such new equity incentive plan, and issue securities pursuant to such new equity incentive plan (including, without limitation, the issuance of shares of Common Stock upon the vesting of restricted stock units or exercise of options or other securities issued pursuant to such new equity incentive plan), provided that (1) such new equity incentive plan satisfies the transaction requirements of General Instruction A.1 of Form S-8 under the Securities Act and (2) this clause (iii) shall not be available unless each recipient of shares of Common Stock, or securities exchangeable or exercisable for or convertible into Common Stock, pursuant to such new equity incentive plan shall be contractually prohibited from selling, offering, disposing of or otherwise transferring any such shares or securities during the remainder of the Lock-Up Period. The Company will cause each person and entity listed in Schedule D to furnish to the Representatives, prior to the Closing Date, a “lock-up” agreement, substantially in the form of Exhibit A hereto. In addition, the Company will direct the transfer agent to place stop transfer restrictions upon any such securities of the Company that are bound by such “lock-up” agreements.
(l) Delivery of SEC Correspondence. To supply the Underwriters with copies of all correspondence to and from, and all documents issued to and by, the Commission in connection with the registration of the Securities under the Securities Act or any of the Registration Statement, any Preliminary Prospectus or the Prospectus, or any amendment or supplement thereto or document incorporated by reference therein.
(m) Press Releases. Prior to the Closing Date, not to issue any press release or other communication directly or indirectly or hold any press conference with respect to the Company, its condition, financial or otherwise, or earnings, business affairs or business prospects (except for routine oral marketing communications in the ordinary course of business and consistent with the past practices of the Company and of which the Representatives are notified), without the prior consent of the Representatives, unless in the judgment of the Company and its counsel, and after notification to the Representatives, such press release or communication is required by law.
(n) Compliance with Regulation M. Until the Underwriters shall have notified the Company of the completion of the resale of the Securities, that the Company will not, and will use its reasonable best efforts to cause its affiliated purchasers (as defined in Regulation M under the Exchange Act) not to, either alone or with one or more other persons, bid for or purchase, for any account in which it or any of its affiliated purchasers has a beneficial interest, any Stock, or attempt to induce any person to purchase any Stock; and not to, and to use its reasonable best efforts to cause its affiliated purchasers not to, make bids or purchase for the purpose of creating actual, or apparent, active trading in or of raising the price of the Securities.
(o) Registrar and Transfer Agent. To maintain, at its expense, a registrar and transfer agent for the Securities.
(p) Use of Proceeds. To apply the net proceeds from the sale of the Securities as set forth in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus under the heading “Use of Proceeds,” and the Company does not intend to use any of the proceeds from the sale of the Securities hereunder to repay any outstanding debt owed to any affiliate of any Underwriter.
(q) Exchange Listing. To use its reasonable best efforts to list, subject to notice of issuance, the Stock and the Warrant Shares on the Exchange.
(r) Performance of Covenants and Satisfaction of Conditions. To use its reasonable best efforts to do and perform all things required to be done or performed under this Agreement by the Company prior to each Closing Date and to satisfy all conditions precedent to the delivery of the Firm Stock, the Pre-Funded Warrants and the Optional Stock.
Warrant Shares Reserved. The Company shall, at all times while any Pre-Funded Warrants are outstanding, reserve and keep available out of the aggregate of its authorized but unissued and otherwise unreserved Common Stock, solely for the purpose of enabling it to issue Warrant Shares upon exercise of such Pre-Funded Warrants, the number of Warrant Shares that are initially issuable and deliverable upon the exercise of the then-outstanding Pre-Funded Warrants.
5. PAYMENT OF EXPENSES. The Company agrees to pay, or reimburse if paid by any Underwriter, whether or not the transactions contemplated hereby are consummated or this Agreement is terminated: (a) the costs incident to the authorization, issuance, sale, preparation and delivery of the Securities and any taxes payable in that connection; (b) the costs incident to the registration of the Securities under the Securities Act; (c) the costs incident to the preparation, printing and distribution of the Registration Statement, any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, the General Disclosure Package, the Prospectus, any amendments, supplements and exhibits thereto or any document incorporated by reference therein and the costs of printing, reproducing and distributing, the Underwriters’ Questionnaire, this Agreement and any closing documents by mail, telex or other means of communications; (d) the fees and expenses (including related fees and expenses of counsel for the Underwriters) incurred in connection with securing any required review by FINRA of the terms of the sale of the Securities and any filings made with FINRA; (e) any applicable listing or other fees; (f) the fees and expenses (including related fees and expenses of counsel to the Underwriters) of qualifying the Securities under the securities laws of the several jurisdictions as provided in Section 4(j)) and of preparing, printing and distributing wrappers, Blue Sky Memoranda and Legal Investment Surveys; provided, however, that the reasonably incurred and documented fees and expenses of counsel for the Underwriters relating to clauses (d) and (f) shall not exceed $40,000 in the aggregate; (g) all fees and expenses of the registrar and transfer agent of the Securities; (h) the costs and expenses of the Company relating to investor presentations on any “road show” undertaken in connection with the marketing of the offering of the Securities, including, without limitation, expenses associated with the preparation or dissemination of any electronic road show, expenses associated with the production of road show slides and graphics, fees and expenses of any consultants engaged in connection with the road show presentations with the prior approval of the Company, travel and lodging expenses of the officers of the Company and such consultants, including the cost of any aircraft chartered in connection with the road show, (i) the costs of reproducing and distributing each of the Pre-Funded Warrants, and (j) all other costs and expenses incident to the offering of the Securities or the performance of the obligations of the Company under this Agreement (including, without limitation, the fees and expenses of the Company’s counsel and the Company’s independent accountants); provided that, except to the extent otherwise provided in this Section 5 and in Sections 9 and 10, the Underwriters shall pay their own costs and expenses, including the fees and expenses of their counsel not contemplated herein, any transfer taxes on the resale of any Securities by them and the expenses of advertising any offering of the Securities made by the Underwriters.
6. CONDITIONS OF UNDERWRITERS’ OBLIGATIONS. The respective obligations of the several Underwriters hereunder are subject to the accuracy, when made and as of the Applicable Time and on each Closing Date, of the representations and warranties of the Company contained herein, to the accuracy of the statements of the Company made in any certificates pursuant to the provisions hereof, to the performance by the Company of its obligations hereunder, and to each of the following additional terms and conditions:
(a) Registration Compliance; No Stop Orders. The Registration Statement has become effective under the Securities Act, and no stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement or any part thereof, preventing or suspending the use of any Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus or any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus or any part thereof shall have been issued and no proceedings for that purpose or pursuant to Section 8A under the Securities Act shall have been initiated or threatened by the Commission, and all requests for additional information on the part of the Commission (to be included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus or otherwise) shall have been complied with to the reasonable satisfaction of the Representatives; the Rule 462(b) Registration Statement, if any, each Issuer Free Writing Prospectus and the Prospectus shall have been filed with, the Commission within the applicable time period prescribed for such filing by, and in compliance with, the Rules and Regulations and in accordance with Section 4(i)(a), and the Rule 462(b) Registration Statement, if any, shall have become effective immediately upon its filing with the Commission; and FINRA shall have raised no unresolved objection to the fairness and reasonableness of the terms of this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby.
(b) No Material Misstatements. None of the Underwriters shall have discovered and disclosed to the Company on or prior to such Closing Date that the Registration Statement or any amendment or supplement thereto contains an untrue statement of a fact which, in the opinion of counsel for the Underwriters, is material or omits to state any fact which, in the opinion of such counsel, is material and is required to be stated therein or is necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, or that the General Disclosure Package, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or the Prospectus or any amendment or supplement thereto contains an untrue statement of fact which, in the opinion of such counsel, is material or omits to state any fact which, in the opinion of such counsel, is material and is necessary in order to make the statements, in the light of the circumstances in which they were made, not misleading.
(c) Corporate Proceedings. All corporate proceedings incident to the authorization, form and validity of each of this Agreement, the Securities, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package, each Issuer Free Writing Prospectus and the Prospectus and the transactions contemplated hereby shall be reasonably satisfactory in all material respects to counsel for the Underwriters, and the Company shall have furnished to such counsel all documents and information that they may reasonably request to enable them to pass upon such matters.
(d) Opinion and 10b-5 Statement of Counsel for the Company. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. shall have furnished to the Representatives such counsel’s written opinion and 10b-5 statement, as counsel to the Company, addressed to the Underwriters and dated such Closing Date, in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Representatives.
(e) Opinion of Intellectual Property Counsel for the Company. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. shall have furnished to the Representatives such counsel’s written opinion, as intellectual property counsel to the Company, addressed to the Underwriters and dated such the Closing Date, in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Representatives.
(f) Opinion and 10b-5 Statement of Counsel for the Underwriters. The Representatives shall have received from Paul Hastings LLP, counsel for the Underwriters, such opinion or opinions and 10b-5 statement, dated such Closing Date, with respect to such matters as the Underwriters may reasonably require, and the Company shall have furnished to such counsel such documents as they request for enabling them to pass upon such matters.
(g) Comfort Letter. At the time of the execution of this Agreement, the Representatives shall have received from KPMG LLP a letter, addressed to the Underwriters, executed and dated such date, in form and substance satisfactory to the Representatives (i) confirming that they are an independent registered accounting firm with respect to the Company and its subsidiaries within the meaning of the Securities Act and the Rules and Regulations and PCAOB and (ii) stating the conclusions and findings of such firm, of the type ordinarily included in accountants’ “comfort letters” to underwriters, with respect to the consolidated financial statements and certain financial information contained or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.
(h) Bring Down Comfort. On the effective date of any post-effective amendment to the Registration Statement and on such Closing Date, the Representatives shall have received a letter (the “bring-down letter”) from KPMG LLP addressed to the Underwriters and dated such Closing Date confirming, as of the date of the bring-down letter (or, with respect to matters involving changes or developments since the respective dates as of which specified financial information is given in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, as the case may be, as of a date not more than three (3) business days prior to the date of the bring-down letter), the conclusions and findings of such firm, of the type ordinarily included in accountants’ “comfort letters” to underwriters, with respect to the financial information and other matters covered by its letter delivered to the Representatives concurrently with the execution of this Agreement pursuant to paragraph (g) of this Section 6.
(i) Officer’s Certificate. The Company shall have furnished to the Representatives a certificate, dated such Closing Date, of its Chief Executive Officer and its Chief Financial Officer stating in their respective capacities as officers of the Company on behalf of the Company that (i) no stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement (including, for avoidance of doubt, any Rule 462(b) Registration Statement), or any post-effective amendment thereto, shall be in effect and no proceedings for such purpose shall have been instituted or, to their knowledge, threatened by the Commission, (ii) for the period from and including the date of this Agreement through and including such Closing Date, there has not occurred any Material Adverse Effect, (iii) to their knowledge, after reasonable investigation, as of such Closing Date, the representations and warranties of the Company in this Agreement are true and correct and the Company has complied with all agreements and satisfied all conditions on its part to be performed or satisfied hereunder at or prior to such Closing Date, and (iv) there has not been, subsequent to the date of the most recent audited financial statements included or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package, any Material Adverse Effect in the financial position or results of operations of the Company, or any change or development that, singularly or in the aggregate, would reasonably be expected to involve a Material Adverse Effect, except as set forth in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.
(j) No Material Adverse Effect. Since the date of the latest audited financial statements included in the General Disclosure Package or incorporated by reference in the General Disclosure Package as of the date hereof, (i) neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries shall have sustained any loss or interference with its business from fire, explosion, flood or other calamity, whether or not covered by insurance, or from any labor dispute or court or governmental action, order or decree, otherwise than as set forth in the General Disclosure Package, and (ii) there shall not have been any change in the capital stock or long-term debt of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or any change, or any development involving a prospective change, in or affecting the business, general affairs, management, financial position, stockholders’ equity or results of operations of the Company and its subsidiaries, otherwise than as set forth in the General Disclosure Package, the effect of which, in any such case described in clause (i) or (ii) of this paragraph (j), is, in the judgment of the Representatives, so material and adverse as to make it impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the sale or delivery of the Securities on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the General Disclosure Package.
(k) No Legal Impediment to Issuance. No action shall have been taken and no law, statute, rule, regulation or order shall have been enacted, adopted or issued by any governmental or regulatory agency or body which would prevent the issuance or sale of the Securities; and no injunction, restraining order or order of any other nature by any federal or state court of competent jurisdiction shall have been issued which would prevent the issuance or sale of the Securities or materially and adversely affect or potentially materially and adversely affect the business or operations of the Company.
(l) [Reserved].
(m) Market Conditions. Subsequent to the execution and delivery of this Agreement there shall not have occurred any of the following: (i) trading in any of the Company’s securities shall have been suspended or materially limited by the Commission or the Exchange, or trading in securities generally on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Global Select Market, Nasdaq Global Market, Nasdaq Capital Market or the NYSE MKT LLC or in the over-the-counter market, or trading in any securities of the Company on any exchange or in the over-the-counter market, shall have been suspended or materially limited, or minimum or maximum prices or maximum range for prices shall have been established on any such exchange or such market by the Commission, by such exchange or market or by any other regulatory body or governmental authority having jurisdiction, (ii) a banking moratorium shall have been declared by Federal or state authorities or a material disruption has occurred in commercial banking or securities settlement or clearance services in the United States, (iii) the United States shall have become engaged in hostilities, or the subject of an act of terrorism, or there shall have been an outbreak of or escalation in hostilities involving the United States, or there shall have been a declaration of a national emergency or war by the United States or (iv) there shall have occurred such a material adverse change in general economic, political or financial conditions (or the effect of international conditions on the financial markets in the United States shall be such) as to make it, in the judgment of the Representatives, impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the sale or delivery of the Securities on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.
(n) Exchange Listing. The Company shall have filed a Listing of Additional Shares Notification Form with the Exchange and shall have received no objection thereto from the Exchange.
(o) Good Standing. The Representatives shall have received on and as of such Closing Date satisfactory evidence of the good standing of the Company and its subsidiaries in their respective jurisdictions of organization and their good standing as foreign entities in such other jurisdictions as the Representatives may reasonably request, in each case in writing or any standard form of telecommunication from the appropriate Governmental Authorities of such jurisdictions.
(p) Lock Up Agreements. The Representatives shall have received the written agreements, substantially in the form of Exhibit I hereto, of the officers and directors of the Company listed in Schedule D to this Agreement.
(q) Secretary’s Certificate. The Company shall have furnished to the Representatives a Secretary’s Certificate of the Company, in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to counsel for the Underwriters and customary for the type of offering contemplated by this Agreement.
(r) Additional Document. On or prior to such Closing Date, the Company shall have furnished to the Representatives such further certificates and documents as the Representatives may reasonably request.
Form of Warrants. On or prior to such Closing Date, the Pre-Funded Warrants shall be delivered to those persons and entities as directed by the Representatives, in form and substance as set forth on Exhibit II hereto, dated as of such date.
All opinions, letters, evidence and certificates mentioned above or elsewhere in this Agreement shall be deemed to be in compliance with the provisions hereof only if they are in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to counsel for the Underwriters.
7. INDEMNIFICATION AND CONTRIBUTION.
(a) Indemnification of Underwriters by the Company. The Company shall indemnify and hold harmless:
each Underwriter, its affiliates, directors, officers, managers, members, employees, representatives and agents and each person, if any, who controls any Underwriter within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act or Section 20 of the Exchange Act (collectively the “Underwriter Indemnified Parties,” and each an “Underwriter Indemnified Party”) against any loss, claim, damage, expense or liability whatsoever (or any action, investigation or proceeding in respect thereof), joint or several, to which such Underwriter Indemnified Party may become subject, under the Securities Act or otherwise, insofar as such loss, claim, damage, expense, liability, action, investigation or proceeding arises out of or is based upon (A) any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in any Written Testing-the-Waters Communication, any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, any “issuer information” filed or required to be filed pursuant to Rule 433(d) of the Rules and Regulations, the Registration Statement, the Prospectus, or in any amendment or supplement thereto or document incorporated by reference therein or in any materials or information provided to investors by, or with the approval of, the Company in connection with the marketing of the offering of the Common Stock, including any roadshow or investor presentations made to investors by the Company (whether in person or electronically) (“Marketing Materials”) or (B) the omission or alleged omission to state in any Company Written Testing-the-Waters Communication, any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, any “issuer information” filed or required to be filed pursuant to Rule 433(d) of the Rules and Regulations, the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or in any amendment or supplement thereto or document incorporated by reference therein, or in any Marketing Materials, a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, and shall reimburse each Underwriter Indemnified Party promptly upon demand for any legal fees or other expenses reasonably incurred by that Underwriter Indemnified Party in connection with investigating, or preparing to defend, or defending against, or appearing as a third party witness in respect of, or otherwise incurred in connection with, any such loss, claim, damage, expense, liability, action, investigation or proceeding, as such fees and expenses are incurred; provided, however, that the Company shall not be liable in any such case to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage, expense or liability arises out of or is based upon an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement in, or omission or alleged omission from any Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or any such amendment or supplement thereto, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or any Marketing Materials made in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for use therein, which information the parties hereto agree is limited to the Underwriters’ Information.
The indemnity agreement in this Section 7(a) is not exclusive and is in addition to each other liability which the Company might have under this Agreement or otherwise, and shall not limit any rights or remedies which may otherwise be available under this Agreement, at law or in equity to any Underwriter Indemnified Party.
(b) Indemnification of Company by the Underwriters. Each Underwriter, severally and not jointly, shall indemnify and hold harmless the Company and its directors, its officers who signed the Registration Statement and each person, if any, who controls the Company within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act or Section 20 of the Exchange Act (collectively the “Company Indemnified Parties” and each a “Company Indemnified Party”) against any loss, claim, damage, expense or liability whatsoever (or any action, investigation or proceeding in respect thereof), joint or several, to which such Company Indemnified Party may become subject, under the Securities Act or otherwise, insofar as such loss, claim, damage, expense, liability, action, investigation or proceeding arises out of or is based upon (i) any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, any “issuer information” filed or required to be filed pursuant to Rule 433(d) of the Rules and Regulations, the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or in any amendment or supplement thereto, or (ii) the omission or alleged omission to state in any Preliminary Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, any “issuer information” filed or required to be filed pursuant to Rule 433(d) of the Rules and Regulations, the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or in any amendment or supplement thereto, a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, but in each case only to the extent that the untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission was made in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of that Underwriter specifically for use therein, which information the parties hereto agree is limited to the Underwriters’ Information, and shall reimburse the Company Indemnified Parties for any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred by such party in connection with investigating or preparing to defend or defending against or appearing as third party witness in connection with any such loss, claim, damage, liability, action, investigation or proceeding, as such fees and expenses are incurred.
This indemnity agreement is not exclusive and will be in addition to any liability which the Underwriters might otherwise have and shall not limit any rights or remedies which may otherwise be available under this Agreement, at law or in equity to the Company Indemnified Parties.
(c) Promptly after receipt by an indemnified party under this Section 7 of notice of the commencement of any action, the indemnified party shall, if a claim in respect thereof is to be made against an indemnifying party under this Section 7, notify such indemnifying party in writing of the commencement of that action; provided, however, that the failure to notify the indemnifying party shall not relieve it from any liability which it may have under this Section 7 except to the extent it has been materially prejudiced by such failure; and, provided, further, that the failure to notify an indemnifying party shall not relieve it from any liability which it may have to an indemnified party otherwise than under this Section 7. If any such action shall be brought against an indemnified party, and it shall notify the indemnifying party thereof, the indemnifying party shall be entitled to participate therein and, to the extent that it wishes, jointly with any other similarly notified indemnifying party, to assume the defense of such action with counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party (which counsel shall not, except with the written consent of the indemnified party, be counsel to the indemnifying party).
After notice from the indemnifying party to the indemnified party of its election to assume the defense of such action, except as provided herein, the indemnifying party shall not be liable to the indemnified party under Section 7 for any legal or other expenses subsequently incurred by the indemnified party in connection with the defense of such action other than reasonable costs of investigation; provided, however, that any indemnified party shall have the right to employ separate counsel in any such action and to participate in the defense of such action but the fees and expenses of such counsel (other than reasonable costs of investigation) shall be at the expense of such indemnified party unless (i) the employment thereof has been specifically authorized in writing by the Company in the case of a claim for indemnification under Section 7(a) or the Representatives in the case of a claim for indemnification under Section 7(b), (ii) such indemnified party shall have been advised by its counsel that there may be one or more legal defenses available to it which are different from or additional to those available to the indemnifying party, or (iii) the indemnifying party has failed to assume the defense of such action and employ counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party within a reasonable period of time after notice of the commencement of the action or the indemnifying party does not diligently defend the action after assumption of the defense, in which case, if such indemnified party notifies the indemnifying party in writing that it elects to employ separate counsel at the expense of the indemnifying party, the indemnifying party shall not have the right to assume the defense of (or, in the case of a failure to diligently defend the action after assumption of the defense, to continue to defend) such action on behalf of such indemnified party and the indemnifying party shall be responsible for legal or other expenses subsequently incurred by such indemnified party in connection with the defense of such action; provided, however, that the indemnifying party shall not, in connection with any one such action or separate but substantially similar or related actions in the same jurisdiction arising out of the same general allegations or circumstances, be liable for the reasonable fees and expenses of more than one separate firm of attorneys at any time for all such indemnified parties (in addition to any local counsel), which firm shall be designated in writing by the Representatives if the indemnified parties under this Section 7 consist of any Underwriter Indemnified Party or by the Company if the indemnified parties under this Section 7 consist of any Company Indemnified Parties. Subject to this Section 7(c), the amount payable by an indemnifying party under Section 7 shall include, but not be limited to, (x) reasonable legal fees and expenses of counsel to the indemnified party and any other expenses in investigating, or preparing to defend or defending against, or appearing as a third party witness in respect of, or otherwise incurred in connection with, any action, investigation, proceeding or claim, and (y) all amounts paid in settlement of any of the foregoing. No indemnifying party shall, without the prior written consent of the indemnified parties, settle or compromise or consent to the entry of judgment with respect to any pending or threatened action or any claim whatsoever, in respect of which indemnification or contribution could be sought under this Section 7 (whether or not the indemnified parties are actual or potential parties thereto), unless such settlement, compromise or consent (i) includes an unconditional release of each indemnified party in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to such indemnified party from all liability arising out of such action or claim and (ii) does not include a statement as to or an admission of fault, culpability or a failure to act by or on behalf of any indemnified party.
Subject to the provisions of the following sentence, no indemnifying party shall be liable for settlement of any pending or threatened action or any claim whatsoever that is effected without its written consent (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed), but if settled with its written consent, if its consent has been unreasonably withheld or delayed or if there be a judgment for the plaintiff in any such matter, the indemnifying party agrees to indemnify and hold harmless any indemnified party from and against any loss or liability by reason of such settlement or judgment. In addition, if at any time an indemnified party shall have requested that an indemnifying party reimburse the indemnified party for fees and expenses of counsel, such indemnifying party agrees that it shall be liable for any settlement of the nature contemplated by Section 7(a) effected without its written consent if (i) such settlement is entered into more than forty-five (45) days after receipt by such indemnifying party of the request for reimbursement, (ii) such indemnifying party shall have received notice of the terms of such settlement at least thirty (30) days prior to such settlement being entered into and (iii) such indemnifying party shall not have reimbursed such indemnified party in accordance with such request prior to the date of such settlement.
(d) If the indemnification provided for in this Section 7 is unavailable or insufficient to hold harmless an indemnified party under Section 7(a) or 7(b), then each indemnifying party shall, in lieu of indemnifying such indemnified party, contribute to the amount paid, payable or otherwise incurred by such indemnified party as a result of such loss, claim, damage, expense or liability (or any action, investigation or proceeding in respect thereof), as incurred, (i) in such proportion as shall be appropriate to reflect the relative benefits received by the Company on the one hand and the Underwriters on the other from the offering of the Securities, or (ii) if the allocation provided by clause (i) of this Section 7(d) is not permitted by applicable law, in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect not only the relative benefits referred to in clause (i) of this Section 7(d) but also the relative fault of the Company on the one hand and the Underwriters on the other with respect to the statements, omissions, acts or failures to act which resulted in such loss, claim, damage, expense or liability (or any action, investigation or proceeding in respect thereof) as well as any other relevant equitable considerations. The relative benefits received by the Company on the one hand and the Underwriters on the other with respect to such offering shall be deemed to be in the same proportion as the total net proceeds from the offering of the Securities purchased under this Agreement (before deducting expenses) received by the Company bear to the total underwriting discounts and commissions received by the Underwriters with respect to the Securities purchased under this Agreement, in each case as set forth in the table on the cover page of the Prospectus.
The relative fault of the Company on the one hand and the Underwriters on the other shall be determined by reference to, among other things, whether the untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact or the omission or alleged omission to state a material fact relates to information supplied by the Company on the one hand or the Underwriters on the other, the intent of the parties and their relative knowledge, access to information and opportunity to correct or prevent such untrue statement, omission, act or failure to act; provided that the parties hereto agree that the written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of the Underwriters for use in the Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or in any amendment or supplement thereto, consists solely of the Underwriters’ Information
(e) The Company and the Underwriters agree that it would not be just and equitable if contributions pursuant to Section 7(d) above were to be determined by pro rata allocation or by any other method of allocation which does not take into account the equitable considerations referred to Section 7(d) above. The amount paid or payable by an indemnified party as a result of the loss, claim, damage, expense, liability, action, investigation or proceeding referred to in Section 7(d) above shall be deemed to include, subject to the limitations set forth above, any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred by such indemnified party in connection with investigating, preparing to defend or defending against or appearing as a third party witness in respect of, or otherwise incurred in connection with, any such loss, claim, damage, expense, liability, action, investigation or proceeding. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section 7, no Underwriters shall be required to contribute any amount in excess of the amount by which the total underwriting discounts and commissions received by such Underwriter with respect to the offering of the Securities exceeds the amount of any damages which the Underwriter has otherwise paid or become liable to pay by reason of any untrue or alleged untrue statement, omission or alleged omission, act or alleged act or failure to act or alleged failure to act. No person guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation (within the meaning of Section 11(f) of the Securities Act) shall be entitled to contribution from any person who was not guilty of such fraudulent misrepresentation. The Underwriters’ obligations to contribute as provided in this Section 7 are several in proportion to their respective underwriting obligations and not joint.
8. TERMINATION. The obligations of the Underwriters hereunder may be terminated by the Representatives, in their absolute discretion by notice given to the Company prior to delivery of and payment for the Firm Stock and the Pre-Funded Warrants if, prior to that time, any of the events described in Sections 6(j), or 6(m) have occurred or if the Underwriters shall decline to purchase the Securities for any reason permitted under this Agreement.
9. REIMBURSEMENT OF UNDERWRITERS’ EXPENSES. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, if (a) this Agreement shall have been terminated pursuant to Section 8 or 10, (b) the Company shall fail to tender the Securities for delivery to the Underwriters, or in the case of the Pre-Funded Warrants, to the purchasers thereof, for any reason not permitted under this Agreement, (c) the Underwriters shall decline to purchase the Securities for any reason permitted under this Agreement or (d) the sale of the Securities is not consummated because any condition to the obligations of the Underwriters set forth herein is not satisfied or because of the refusal, inability or failure on the part of the Company to perform any agreement herein or to satisfy any condition or to comply with the provisions hereof, then in addition to the payment of amounts in accordance with Section 5, the Company shall reimburse the Underwriters for the fees and expenses of Underwriters’ counsel and for such other out-of-pocket expenses as shall have been reasonably incurred by them in connection with this Agreement and the proposed purchase of the Securities, and upon demand the Company shall pay the full amount thereof to the Representatives; provided that if this Agreement is terminated pursuant to Section 10 by reason of the default of one or more Underwriters, the Company shall not be obligated to reimburse any defaulting Underwriter on account of expenses to the extent incurred by such defaulting Underwriter, provided further that the foregoing shall not limit any reimbursement obligation of the Company to any non-defaulting Underwriter under this Section 9.
10. SUBSTITUTION OF UNDERWRITERS. If any Underwriter or Underwriters shall default in its or their obligations to purchase Securities hereunder on any Closing Date and the aggregate number of Securities which such defaulting Underwriter or Underwriters agreed but failed to purchase does not exceed ten percent (10%) of the total number of Securities to be purchased by all Underwriters on such Closing Date, the other Underwriters shall be obligated severally, in proportion to their respective commitments hereunder, to purchase the Securities which such defaulting Underwriter or Underwriters agreed but failed to purchase on such Closing Date. If any Underwriter or Underwriters shall so default and the aggregate number of Securities with respect to which such default or defaults occur is more than ten percent (10%) of the total number of Securities to be purchased by all Underwriters on such Closing Date and arrangements satisfactory to the Representatives and the Company for the purchase of such Securities by other persons are not made within forty-eight (48) hours after such default, this Agreement shall terminate.
If the remaining Underwriters or substituted Underwriters are required hereby or agree to take up all or part of the Securities of a defaulting Underwriter or Underwriters on such Closing Date as provided in this Section 10, (i) the Company shall have the right to postpone such Closing Dates for a period of not more than five (5) full business days in order that the Company may effect whatever changes may thereby be made necessary in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, or in any other documents or arrangements, and the Company agrees promptly to file any amendments to the Registration Statement or supplements to the Prospectus which may thereby be made necessary, and (ii) the respective numbers of Securities to be purchased by the remaining Underwriters or substituted Underwriters shall be taken as the basis of their underwriting obligation for all purposes of this Agreement. Nothing herein contained shall relieve any defaulting Underwriter of its liability to the Company or the other Underwriters for damages occasioned by its default hereunder. Any termination of this Agreement pursuant to this Section 10 shall be without liability on the part of any non-defaulting Underwriter or the Company, except that the representations, warranties, covenants, indemnities, agreements and other statements set forth in Section 2, the obligations with respect to expenses to be paid or reimbursed pursuant to Sections 5 and 9 and the provisions of Section 7 and Sections 11 through 21, inclusive, shall not terminate and shall remain in full force and effect.
11. ABSENCE OF FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIP. The Company acknowledges and agrees that:
(a) each Underwriter’s responsibility to the Company is solely contractual in nature, the Representatives have been retained solely to act as underwriters in connection with the sale of the Securities and no fiduciary, advisory or agency relationship between the Company and the Representatives have been created in respect of any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, irrespective of whether the Representatives have advised or is advising the Company on other matters;
(b) the price of the Securities set forth in this Agreement was established by the Company following discussions and arms-length negotiations with the Representatives, and the Company is capable of evaluating and understanding, and understands and accepts, the terms, risks and conditions of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement;
(c) it has been advised that the Representatives and their affiliates are engaged in a broad range of transactions which may involve interests that differ from those of the Company and that the Representatives have no obligation to disclose such interests and transactions to the Company by virtue of any fiduciary, advisory or agency relationship; and
(d) it waives, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any claims it may have against the Representatives for breach of fiduciary duty or alleged breach of fiduciary duty and agrees that the Representatives shall have no liability (whether direct or indirect) to the Company in respect of such a fiduciary duty claim or to any person asserting a fiduciary duty claim on behalf of or in right of the Company, including stockholders, employees or creditors of the Company
12. SUCCESSORS; PERSONS ENTITLED TO BENEFIT OF AGREEMENT. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the several Underwriters, the Company and their respective successors and assigns. Nothing expressed or mentioned in this Agreement is intended or shall be construed to give any person, other than the persons mentioned in the preceding sentence, any legal or equitable right, remedy or claim under or in respect of this Agreement, or any provisions herein contained, this Agreement and all conditions and provisions hereof being intended to be and being for the sole and exclusive benefit of such persons and for the benefit of no other person; except that the representations, warranties, covenants, agreements and indemnities of the Company contained in this Agreement shall also be for the benefit of the Underwriter Indemnified Parties, and the indemnities of the several Underwriters shall be for the benefit of the Company Indemnified Parties. It is understood that each Underwriter’s responsibility to the Company is solely contractual in nature and the Underwriters do not owe the Company, or any other party, any fiduciary duty as a result of this Agreement. No purchaser of any of the Securities from any Underwriter shall be deemed to be a successor or assign by reason merely of such purchase.
13. SURVIVAL OF INDEMNITIES, REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, ETC. The respective indemnities, covenants, agreements, representations, warranties and other statements of the Company and the several Underwriters, as set forth in this Agreement or made by them respectively, pursuant to this Agreement, shall remain in full force and effect, regardless of any investigation made by or on behalf of any Underwriter, the Company or any person controlling any of them and shall survive delivery of and payment for the Securities. Notwithstanding any termination of this Agreement, including without limitation any termination pursuant to Section 8 or Section 10, the indemnities, covenants, agreements, representations, warranties and other statements forth in Sections 2, 5, 7 and 9 and Sections 11 through 21, inclusive, of this Agreement shall not terminate and shall remain in full force and effect at all times.
14. Recognition of the U.S. Special Resolution Regimes
(a) In the event that any Underwriter that is a Covered Entity becomes subject to a proceeding under a U.S. Special Resolution Regime, the transfer from such Underwriter of this Agreement, and any interest and obligation in or under this Agreement, will be effective to the same extent as the transfer would be effective under the U.S. Special Resolution Regime if this Agreement, and any such interest and obligation, were governed by the laws of the United States or a state of the United States.
(b) In the event that any Underwriter that is a Covered Entity or a BHC Act Affiliate of such Underwriter becomes subject to a proceeding under a U.S. Special Resolution Regime, Default Rights under this Agreement that may be exercised against such Underwriter are permitted to be exercised to no greater extent than such Default Rights could be exercised under the U.S. Special Resolution Regime if this Agreement were governed by the laws of the United States or a state of the United States.
15. NOTICES. All statements, requests, notices and agreements hereunder shall be in writing, and:
(a) if to the Underwriters, shall be delivered or sent by mail or email to TD Securities (USA) LLC, 1 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, New York 10017, Attention: Head of Equity Capital Markets, with a copy to CIBLegal@tdsecurities.com; Evercore Group L.L.C. at 55 East 52nd Street, New York, New York 10055, Attention: ECM General Counsel; Guggenheim Securities, LLC, 330 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, Attention: General Counsel; and Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, One Pennsylvania Plaza, Suite 4800, New York, New York 10119; with copies to Paul Hastings LLP, The MetLife Building, 200 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10166, Attention: Siavosh Salimi and William A. Magioncalda; and
(b) if to the Company shall be delivered or sent by mail or email to Forte Biosciences, Inc., 3060 Pegasus Park Drive, Building 6, Dallas, TX 75247, Attention: Chief Executive Officer, with copies to Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., 12235 El Camino Real, San Diego, CA 92130, Attention: Dan Koeppen;
provided, however, that any notice to an Underwriter pursuant to Section 7 shall be delivered or sent by mail, or facsimile transmission to such Underwriter at its address set forth in its acceptance telex to the Representatives, which address will be supplied to any other party hereto by the Representatives upon request. Any such statements, requests, notices or agreements shall take effect at the time of receipt thereof.
16. DEFINITION OF CERTAIN TERMS. For purposes of this Agreement, (a) “affiliate” has the meaning set forth in Rule 405 under the Securities Act, (b) “business day” means any day on which the Exchange is open for trading (c) “subsidiary” has the meaning set forth in Rule 405 of the Rules and Regulations; (d) “BHC Act Affiliate” has the meaning assigned to the term “affiliate” in, and shall be interpreted in accordance with, 12 U.S.C. § 1841(k), (e) “Covered Entity” means any of the following: (i) a “covered entity” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 252.82(b); (ii) a “covered bank” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 47.3(b); or (iii) a “covered FSI” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 382.2(b), (f) “Default Right” has the meaning assigned to that term in, and shall be interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. §§ 252.81, 47.2 or 382.1, as applicable, (g) “U.S. Special Resolution Regime” means each of (i) the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder and (ii) Title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
17. GOVERNING LAW, JURISDICTION, WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, including without limitation Section 5-1401 of the New York General Obligations. The Company irrevocably (a) submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal and state courts in the Borough of Manhattan in The City of New York for the purpose of any suit, action or other proceeding arising out of this Agreement or the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, the Registration Statement and any Preliminary Prospectus or the Prospectus, (b) agrees that all claims in respect of any such suit, action or proceeding may be heard and determined by any such court, (c) waives to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any immunity from the jurisdiction of any such court or from any legal process, (d) agrees not to commence any such suit, action or proceeding other than in such courts, and (e) waives, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any claim that any such suit, action or proceeding is brought in an inconvenient forum. Each of the parties to this Agreement hereby waives any right to trial by jury in any suit or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement.
18. UNDERWRITERS’ INFORMATION. The parties hereto acknowledge and agree that, for all purposes of this Agreement, the Underwriters’ Information consists solely of the following information in the Prospectus: the statements concerning the Underwriters contained in the ninth and eleventh paragraphs under the heading “Underwriting.”
19. AUTHORITY OF THE REPRESENTATIVES. In connection with this Agreement, the Representatives will act for and on behalf of the several Underwriters, and any action taken under this Agreement by the Representatives will be binding on all the Underwriters.
20. PARTIAL UNENFORCEABILITY. The invalidity or unenforceability of any section, paragraph, clause or provision of this Agreement shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other section, paragraph, clause or provision hereof. If any section, paragraph, clause or provision of this Agreement is for any reason determined to be invalid or unenforceable, there shall be deemed to be made such minor changes (and only such minor changes) as are necessary to make it valid and enforceable.
21. GENERAL. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement of the parties to this Agreement and supersedes all prior written or oral and all contemporaneous oral agreements, understandings and negotiations with respect to the subject matter hereof. In this Agreement, the masculine, feminine and neuter genders and the singular and the plural include one another. The section headings in this Agreement are for the convenience of the parties only and will not affect the construction or interpretation of this Agreement. This Agreement may be amended or modified, and the observance of any term of this Agreement may be waived, only by a writing signed by the Company and the Representatives.
22. COUNTERPARTS. This Agreement may be signed in any number of counterparts, each of which shall be an original, with the same effect as if the signatures thereto and hereto were upon the same instrument. This Agreement may be delivered via facsimilie, electronic mail (including pdf or any electronic signature complying with the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000, e.g., www.docusign.com or www.echosign.com) or other transmission method and any counterpart so delivered shall be deemed to have been duly and validly delivered and be valid and effective for all purposes.
If the foregoing is in accordance with your understanding please indicate your acceptance of this Agreement by signing in the space provided for that purpose below.
| Very truly yours, | ||
| FORTE BIOSCIENCES, INC. | ||
| By: | /s/ Paul Wagner |
|
| Name: Paul Wagner | ||
| Title: Chief Executive Officer | ||
| Accepted as of the date first above written: | ||
| TD SECURITIES (USA) LLC | ||
| EVERCORE GROUP L.L.C. | ||
| GUGGENHEIM SECURITIES, LLC | ||
| CHARDAN CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC | ||
| Each acting on its own behalf and as a Representative of the several Underwriters listed on Schedule A to this Agreement. | ||
| TD SECURITIES (USA) LLC | ||
| By: | /s/ Mariel Healy |
|
| Name: Mariel Healy | ||
| Title: Managing Director | ||
| EVERCORE GROUP L.L.C. | ||
| By: | /s/ Gloria Tang |
|
| Name: Gloria Tang | ||
| Title: Managing Director | ||
| GUGGENHEIM SECURITIES, LLC | ||
| By: | /s/ Jordan Bliss |
|
| Name: Jordan Bliss | ||
| Title: Senior Managing Director | ||
| CHARDAN CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC | ||
| By: | /s/ Shai Gerson |
|
| Name: Shai Gerson | ||
| Title: Partner, Head of Capital Markets | ||
SCHEDULE A
| Name |
Number of Shares of Firm Stock to be Purchased |
Number of Shares of Optional Stock to be Purchased |
Number of Pre-Funded Warrants to be Purchased |
|||||||||
| TD Securities (USA) LLC |
2,252,180 | 375,004 | 247,843 | |||||||||
| Evercore Group L.L.C. |
1,407,613 | 234,378 | 154,902 | |||||||||
| Guggenheim Securities, LLC |
1,126,090 | 187,502 | 123,921 | |||||||||
| Chardan Capital Markets, LLC |
563,045 | 93,750 | 61,960 | |||||||||
| Lucid Capital Markets, LLC |
140,761 | 23,437 | 15,490 | |||||||||
| Brookline Capital Markets, a division of Arcadia Securities, LLC |
140,761 | 23,437 | 15,490 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Total |
5,630,450 | 937,508 | 619,606 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
SCHEDULE B
General Use Free Writing Prospectuses Firm Stock to be Sold: 5,630,450 shares
None.
SCHEDULE C
Pricing Information
Pre-Funded Warrants to be Sold: 619,606
Exercise price of Pre-Funded Warrants: $0.001
Public offering price per share of Common Stock: $12.00
Public offering price per Pre-Funded Warrant: $11.999
Underwriting Discounts and Commissions: 6.00%
Estimated Net Proceeds to the Company (after underwriting discounts and commissions, but before transaction expenses): $70,500,012.07 Paul A. Wagner, Ph.D.
SCHEDULE D
Antony A. Riley
Scott Brun, M.D.
Stephen K. Doberstein, Ph.D.
Barbara K. Finck, M.D.
David Gryska
Shiv Kapoor
Steven Kornfeld
Richard Vincent
Exhibit I
Form of Lock-Up Agreement
June , 2025
TD Securities (USA) LLC
Evercore Group L.L.C.
Guggenheim Securities, LLC
Chardan Capital Markets, LLC
as Representatives of the several Underwriters
c/o TD Securities (USA) LLC
1 Vanderbilt Avenue
New York, New York 10017
c/o Evercore Group L.L.C.
55 East 52nd Street
New York, New York 10055
c/o Guggenheim Securities, LLC
330 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10017
c/o Chardan Capital Markets, LLC
17 State Street, 21st Floor
New York, New York 10004
| Re: | Forte Biosciences, Inc. – Lock-Up Agreement |
Dear Sirs and Madams:
This letter agreement (“Agreement”) is being delivered to you in connection with the proposed Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) between Forte Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and TD Securities (USA) LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C., Guggenheim Securities, LLC and Chardan Capital Markets, LLC as representatives (the “Representatives”) of a group of underwriters (collectively, the “Underwriters”), to be named therein, and the other parties thereto (if any), relating to the proposed public offering of shares of the common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”) and other equity securities of the Company (the “Offering”).
In order to induce the Underwriters to enter into the Underwriting Agreement, and in light of the benefits that the Offering will confer upon the undersigned in his, her or its capacity as a securityholder and/or an officer or director of the Company, and for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the undersigned agrees with each Underwriter that, during the period beginning on the date hereof through and including the date that is the 90th day after the date of the Underwriting Agreement (the “Lock-Up Period”), the undersigned will not, and will not cause or direct any of its affiliates to, without the prior written consent of TD Securities (USA) LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C.
and Guggenheim Securities, LLC, directly or indirectly, (i) offer, sell, assign, transfer, pledge, contract to sell, lend or otherwise dispose of, or announce the intention to otherwise dispose of, any shares of Common Stock (including, without limitation, Common Stock which may be deemed to be beneficially owned by the undersigned in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) as the same may be amended or supplemented from time to time (such shares, the “Beneficially Owned Shares”)) or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock, (ii) enter into, or announce the intention to enter into, any swap, hedge or similar agreement or arrangement (including, without limitation, the purchase or sale of, or entry into, any put or call option, or combination thereof, forward, swap or any other derivative transaction or instrument, however described or defined) that transfers, is designed to transfer or reasonably could be expected to transfer (whether by the undersigned or someone other than the undersigned) in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, the economic risk of ownership of the Beneficially Owned Shares or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock, whether now owned or hereafter acquired by the undersigned or with respect to which the undersigned has or hereafter acquires the power of disposition (the “Prohibited Activity”), or (iii) engage in, or announce the intention to engage in, any short selling of the Common Stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock. The undersigned represents and warrants that the undersigned is not, and has not caused or directed any of its affiliates to be or become, currently a party to any agreement or arrangement that is designed to or which reasonably could be expected to lead to or result in any Prohibited Activity during the Lock-Up Period.
If the undersigned is not a natural person, the undersigned represents and warrants that no single natural person, entity or “group” (within the meaning of Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder (the “Exchange Act”)), other than a natural person, entity or “group” (as described above) that has executed an Agreement in substantially the same form as this Agreement, beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, 50% or more of the common equity interests, or 50% or more of the voting power, in the undersigned.
The restrictions set forth in the preceding paragraphs shall not apply to:
(1) if the undersigned is a natural person, any transfers made by the undersigned (a) as a bona fide gift to any member of the immediate family (as defined below) of the undersigned or to a trust the beneficiaries of which are exclusively the undersigned or members of the undersigned’s immediate family, (b) by will or intestate succession upon the death of the undersigned, (c) as a bona fide gift to a charity or educational institution, (d) pursuant to a domestic order, divorce settlement, divorce decree or separation agreement, or pursuant to an order of a court of competent jurisdiction enforcing any such agreement, or (e) to a corporation, limited liability company or partnership wholly owned by the undersigned and/or any member of the undersigned’s immediate family,
(2) the transfer pursuant to a bona fide third party tender offer, merger (including a reverse merger), consolidation or other similar transaction made to all holders of the Company’s securities involving a change of control (as defined below) of the Company, provided that in the event that the tender offer, merger (including a reverse merger), consolidation or other such transaction is not completed, any Common Stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock held by the undersigned shall remain subject to the restrictions on transfer set forth in this Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, “change of control” shall mean the consummation of any bona fide third party tender offer, merger, consolidation or other similar transaction, in one transaction or a series of related transactions, in each case, approved by the board of directors of the Company and the result of which is that any “person” (as defined in Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), or group of persons, other than the Company, would hold more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Company (or the surviving entity), (3) if the undersigned is a trust, distributions of shares of Common Stock or any security directly or indirectly convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for shares of Common Stock to its beneficiaries in a transaction not involving a disposition of value; provided, however, that no filing by any party under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act or other public announcement shall be required or shall be made voluntarily in connection with such transfer during the Lock-Up Period,
(4) transfers or dispositions of shares of Common Stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock to the Company pursuant to any contractual arrangement described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in effect on the date of this Agreement that provides for the repurchase of the undersigned’s Common Stock or other securities by the Company or in connection with the termination of the undersigned’s employment or other service relationship with the Company;,
(5) the entry, by the undersigned, at any time on or after the date of the Underwriting Agreement, of any trading plan providing for the sale of Common Stock by the undersigned, which trading plan meets the requirements of Rule 10b5-1(c) under the Exchange Act, provided, however, that such plan does not provide for, or permit, the sale of any Common Stock during the Lock-Up Period and, except as required by applicable securities laws, no public announcement or filing is voluntarily made or required regarding such plan during the Lock-Up Period, and provided further, that any required filing under the Exchange Act regarding such plan indicates that no sales of Common Stock shall be permitted under such plan during the Lock-Up Period, and
(6) any transfers, surrenders or forfeitures made by the undersigned to the Company to satisfy tax withholding obligations pursuant to the Company’s equity incentive plans or arrangements disclosed in the prospectus for the Offering;
provided, however, that (A) in the case of any transfer described in clause (1) or (3) above, it shall be a condition to the transfer that the transferee executes and delivers to the Representatives, acting on behalf of the Representatives, not later than one business day prior to such transfer, a written agreement, in substantially the form of this Agreement (it being understood that any references to “immediate family” in the agreement executed by such transferee shall expressly refer only to the immediate family of the undersigned and not to the immediate family of the transferee) and otherwise satisfactory in form and substance to the Representatives, and (B) in the case of any transfer described in clause (1), (4) or (6) above, no public announcement or filing is voluntarily made regarding such transfer during the Lock-Up Period and if the undersigned is required to file a report under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, reporting a reduction in beneficial ownership of shares of Common Stock or Beneficially Owned Shares or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock or Beneficially Owned Shares during the Lock-Up Period, the undersigned shall include a statement in such report explaining the nature of the transfer.
For purposes of this agreement, “immediate family” shall mean a spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild or other lineal descendant (including by adoption), father, mother, brother or sister of the undersigned; and “affiliate” shall have the meaning set forth in Rule 405 under the Securities Act.
For avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Agreement prohibits the undersigned from exercising any options or warrants to purchase Common Stock (which exercises may be effected on a cashless basis to the extent the instruments representing such options or warrants permit exercises on a cashless basis) or receiving shares of Common Stock upon vesting or settlement of equity awards, it being understood that any Common Stock issued upon such exercises will be subject to the restrictions of this Agreement and provided, however, that no public announcement or filing is voluntarily made regarding such exercise or settlement during the Lock-Up Period and provided that if the undersigned is required to file a report under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act reporting a reduction in beneficial ownership of such options, warrants or equity awards during the Lock-Up Period, the undersigned shall include a statement in such report to the effect that the disposition relates to the exercise or settlement of an option, warrant or equity award, as applicable, and that the shares of Common Stock received upon exercise are subject to the restrictions of this Agreement.
In order to enable this covenant to be enforced, the undersigned hereby consents to the placing of legends or stop transfer instructions with the Company’s transfer agent with respect to any Common Stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock.
The undersigned further agrees that it will not, during the Lock-Up Period, make any demand or request for or exercise any right with respect to the registration under the Securities Act, of any shares of Common Stock or other Beneficially Owned Shares or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock or other Beneficially Owned Shares.
The undersigned hereby represents and warrants that the undersigned has full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and that this Agreement has been duly authorized (if the undersigned is not a natural person), executed and delivered by the undersigned and is a valid and binding agreement of the undersigned. This Agreement and all authority herein conferred are irrevocable and shall survive the death or incapacity of the undersigned (if a natural person) and shall be binding upon the heirs, personal representatives, successors and assigns of the undersigned.
The undersigned acknowledges and agrees that Underwriters have not provided any recommendation or investment advice nor have the Underwriters solicited any action from the undersigned with respect to the Offering and the undersigned has consulted their own legal, accounting, financial, regulatory and tax advisors to the extent deemed appropriate. The undersigned further acknowledges and agrees that, although the Underwriters may be required or choose to provide certain Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS disclosures to the undersigned in connection with the Offering, the Underwriters are not making a recommendation to the undersigned to enter into this Agreement and nothing set forth in such disclosures is intended to suggest that the Underwriters are making such a recommendation.
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York applicable to agreements made and to be performed in such state.
This Agreement may be delivered via facsimile, electronic mail (including pdf or any electronic signature complying with the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000, e.g., www.docusign.com or www.echosign.com) or other transmission method and any copy so delivered shall be deemed to have been duly and validly delivered and be valid and effective for all purposes.
If (i) the Company notifies the Representatives in writing that it does not intend to proceed with the Offering, (ii) the Underwriting Agreement is not executed by July 15, 2025, or (iii) the Underwriting Agreement (other than the provisions thereof which survive termination) shall terminate or be terminated for any reason prior to payment for and delivery of any securities to be sold thereunder, then this Agreement shall immediately be terminated and the undersigned shall automatically be released from all of his, her or its obligations under this Agreement. The undersigned acknowledges and agrees that whether or not any offering of securities actually occurs depends on a number of factors, including market conditions.
| Very truly yours, | ||||
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(Name of Stockholder - Please Print) | |||
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| (Signature) | ||||
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| (Name of Signatory if Stockholder is an entity - Please Print) | ||||
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| (Title of Signatory if Stockholder is an entity - Please Print) | ||||
| Address: | ||||
Exhibit II
Form of Pre-Funded Warrant
Exhibit 4.1
FORTE BIOSCIENCES, INC.
FORM OF PRE-FUNDED WARRANT TO PURCHASE COMMON STOCK
| Number of Shares: [ ] | ||
| (subject to adjustment) |
| Warrant No. | Original Issue Date: [ ], 2025 |
Forte Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), hereby certifies that, for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, [ ] or its registered assigns (the “Holder”), is entitled, subject to the terms set forth below, to purchase from the Company up to a total of [ ] shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share (the “Common Stock”), of the Company (each such share, a “Warrant Share” and all such shares, the “Warrant Shares”) at an exercise price per share equal to $0.001 per share (as adjusted from time to time as provided in Section 9 herein, the “Exercise Price”), upon surrender of this Pre-Funded Warrant to Purchase Common Stock (this “Warrant”) at any time and from time to time on or after the date hereof (the “Original Issue Date”), subject to the following terms and conditions:
1. Definitions. For purposes of this Warrant, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) “Affiliate” means any Person (as defined below) directly or indirectly controlled by, controlling or under common control with, a Holder, but only for so long as such control shall continue. For purposes of this definition, “control” (including, with correlative meanings, “controlled by”, “controlling” and “under common control with”) means, with respect to a Person, possession, direct or indirect, of (a) the power to direct or cause direction of the management and policies of such Person (whether through ownership of securities or partnership or other ownership interests, by contract or otherwise), or (b) at least 50% of the voting securities (whether directly or pursuant to any option, warrant or other similar arrangement) or other comparable equity interests.
(b) “Closing Sale Price” means, for any security as of any date, the last trade price for such security on the Principal Trading Market for such security, as reported by Bloomberg Financial Markets, or, if such Principal Trading Market begins to operate on an extended hours basis and does not designate the last trade price, then the last trade price of such security prior to 4:00 P.M., New York City time, as reported by Bloomberg Financial Markets, or if the foregoing do not apply, the last trade price of such security in the over-the-counter market on the electronic bulletin board for such security as reported by Bloomberg Financial Markets, or if no last trade price is reported for such security by Bloomberg Financial Markets, the average of the bid and ask prices, of any market makers for such security as reported in the OTC Link or “pink sheets” by OTC Markets Group Inc. (formerly OTC Markets Inc.) as of 4:00 P.M., New York City time on such date. If the Closing Sale Price cannot be calculated for a security on a particular date on any of the foregoing bases, the Closing Sale Price of such security on such date shall be the fair market value as mutually determined by the Company and the Holder. If the Company and the Holder are unable to agree upon the fair market value of such security, then the Board of Directors of the Company shall use its good faith judgment to determine the fair market value. The Board of Directors’ determination shall be binding upon all parties absent demonstrable error. All such determinations shall be appropriately adjusted for any stock dividend, stock split, stock combination or other similar transaction during the applicable calculation period.
(c) “Commission” means the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
(d) “Principal Trading Market” means the national securities exchange or other trading market on which the Common Stock is primarily listed on and quoted for trading, which, as of the Original Issue Date, shall be the Nasdaq Capital Market.
(e) “Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
(g) “Standard Settlement Period” means the standard settlement period, expressed in a number of Trading Days, for the Company’s primary trading market or quotation system with respect to the Common Stock that is in effect on the date of delivery of an applicable Exercise Notice, which as of the Original Issue Date was “T+1”.
(h) “Trading Day” means any weekday on which the Principal Trading Market is normally open for trading.
(i) “Transfer Agent” means Computershare Trust Company, N.A., the Company’s transfer agent and registrar for the Common Stock, and any successor appointed in such capacity, or if none, the Company.
2. Issuance of Securities; Registration of Warrants. The Company shall register ownership of this Warrant, upon records to be maintained by the Company for that purpose (the “Warrant Register”), in the name of the record Holder (which shall include the initial Holder or, as the case may be, any assignee to which this Warrant is assigned hereunder) from time to time. The Company may deem and treat the registered Holder of this Warrant as the absolute owner hereof for the purpose of any exercise hereof or any distribution to the Holder, and for all other purposes, absent actual notice to the contrary. This Warrant may be, at the option of the Holder, either (x) represented by an original Warrant certificate or (y) issued by book-entry registration in the Warrant Register. For the avoidance of doubt, any Warrant issued by book-entry registration in the Warrant Register shall nonetheless be subject to the terms and conditions of such Warrant certificate to the same extent as if such Warrant were represented by an original Warrant certificate.
3. Registration of Transfers. Subject to compliance with all applicable securities laws, the Company shall, or will cause its Transfer Agent to, register the transfer of all or any portion of this Warrant in the Warrant Register, upon surrender of this Warrant, and payment for all applicable transfer taxes (if any). Notwithstanding the foregoing, no surrender of a Warrant shall be required if such Warrant is represented by book-entry registration in the Warrant Register. Upon any such registration or transfer, a new warrant to purchase Common Stock in substantially the form of this Warrant (any such new warrant, a “New Warrant”) evidencing the portion of this Warrant so transferred shall be issued to the transferee, and a New Warrant evidencing the remaining portion of this Warrant not so transferred, if any, shall be issued to the transferring Holder. The acceptance of the New Warrant by the transferee thereof shall be deemed the acceptance by such transferee of all of the rights and obligations in respect of the New Warrant that the Holder has in respect of this Warrant. The Company shall, or will cause its Transfer Agent to, prepare, issue and deliver at the Company’s own expense any New Warrant under this Section 3. Until due presentment for registration of transfer, the Company may treat the registered Holder hereof as the owner and holder for all purposes, and the Company shall not be affected by any notice to the contrary.
4. Exercise and Duration of Warrants.
(a) All or any part of this Warrant shall be exercisable by the registered Holder in any manner permitted by this Warrant at any time and from time to time on or after the Original Issue Date.
(b) The Holder may exercise this Warrant by delivering to the Company (i) an exercise notice, in the form attached as Schedule 1 hereto (the “Exercise Notice”), completed and duly signed, and (ii) payment of the Exercise Price (other than in the case of a cashless exercise) for the number of Warrant Shares as to which this Warrant is being exercised (which may take the form of a “cashless exercise” if so indicated in the Exercise Notice pursuant to Section 10 below), and the date on which the last of such items is delivered to the Company (as determined in accordance with the notice provisions hereof) is an “Exercise Date.” The Holder shall not be required to deliver the original Warrant in order to effect an exercise hereunder. Execution and delivery of the Exercise Notice shall have the same effect as cancellation of the original Warrant and issuance of a New Warrant evidencing the right to purchase the remaining number of Warrant Shares, if any. The aggregate exercise price of this Warrant, except for the Exercise Price, was pre-funded to the Company on or before the Original Issue Date, and consequently no additional consideration (other than the Exercise Price) shall be required by to be paid by the Holder to effect any exercise of this Warrant. The Holder shall not be entitled to the return or refund of all, or any portion, of such pre-funded exercise price under any circumstance or for any reason whatsoever. The Holder and any assignee, by acceptance of this Warrant, acknowledge and agree that, by reason of the provisions of this paragraph, following the purchase of a portion of the Warrant Shares hereunder, the number of Warrant Shares available for purchase hereunder at any given time may be less than the amount stated on the face hereof.
2
5. Delivery of Warrant Shares.
(a) Upon exercise of this Warrant, the Company shall promptly (but in no event later than the number of Trading Days comprising the Standard Settlement Period), upon the request of the Holder, credit such aggregate number of shares of Common Stock to which the Holder is entitled pursuant to such exercise to the Holder’s or its designee’s balance account with The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) through its Deposit Withdrawal At Custodian system, or if the Transfer Agent is then a participant in the DTC Fast Automated Securities Transfer Program (the “FAST Program”) and either (A) there is an effective registration statement permitting the issuance of the Warrant Shares to or the resale of such Warrant Shares by the Holder or (B) the Warrant Shares are eligible for resale by the Holder without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions pursuant to Rule 144 promulgated under the Securities Act (assuming cashless exercise of this Warrant). If the Transfer Agent is not a member of the FAST Program or if (A) and (B) above are not true, the Transfer Agent will record the Warrant Shares in the name of the Holder or its designee on the certificates reflecting the Warrant Shares with an appropriate legend regarding restriction on transferability, which shall be issued and dispatched by overnight courier to the address as specified in the Exercise Notice, and on the Company’s share register. The Holder, or any Person so designated by the Holder to receive Warrant Shares, shall be deemed to have become the holder of record of such Warrant Shares as of the Exercise Date, irrespective of the date such Warrant Shares are credited to the Holder’s DTC account, the date of the book entry positions or the date of delivery of the certificates evidencing such Warrant Shares, as the case may be.
(b) If within the Standard Settlement Period after the Exercise Date, the Company fails to deliver to the Holder or its designee the required number of Warrant Shares in the manner required pursuant to Section 5(a) or fails to credit the Holder’s or its designee’s balance account with DTC for such number of Warrant Shares to which the Holder is entitled (other than a failure caused by incorrect or incomplete information provided by the Holder to the Company), and if after such number of Trading Days comprising the Standard Settlement Period and prior to the receipt of such Warrant Shares, the Holder purchases (in an open market transaction or otherwise) shares of Common Stock to deliver in satisfaction of a sale by the Holder of the Warrant Shares which the Holder anticipated receiving upon such exercise (a “Buy-In”), then the Company shall, within two (2) Trading Days after the Holder’s request and in the Holder’s sole discretion, either (i) pay in cash to the Holder an amount equal to the Holder’s total purchase price (including brokerage commissions, if any) for the shares of Common Stock so purchased, at which point the Company’s obligation to issue such Warrant Shares shall terminate or (ii) promptly honor its obligation to deliver to the Holder or its designee such Warrant Shares or credit the Holder’s or its designee’s balance account with DTC for such Warrant Shares and pay cash to the Holder in an amount equal to the Holder’s total purchase price (including brokerage commissions, if any) for the shares of Common Stock so purchased in the Buy-In, less the product of (A) the number of shares of Common Stock purchased in the Buy-In, times (B) the Closing Sale Price of a share of Common Stock on the Exercise Date.
(c) To the extent permitted by law and subject to Section 5(b), the Company’s obligations to issue and deliver Warrant Shares in accordance with and subject to the terms hereof (including the limitations set forth in Section 11 below) are absolute and unconditional, irrespective of any action or inaction by the Holder to enforce the same, any waiver or consent with respect to any provision hereof, the recovery of any judgment against any Person or any action to enforce the same, or any setoff, counterclaim, recoupment, limitation or termination, or any breach or alleged breach by the Holder or any other Person of any obligation to the Company or any violation or alleged violation of law by the Holder or any other Person, and irrespective of any other circumstance that might otherwise limit such obligation of the Company to the Holder in connection with the issuance of Warrant Shares. Subject to Section 5(b), nothing herein shall limit the Holder’s right to pursue any other remedies available to it hereunder, at law or in equity including, without limitation, a decree of specific performance and/or injunctive relief with respect to the Company’s failure to timely deliver shares of Common Stock in book-entry form upon exercise of the Warrant as required pursuant to the terms hereof.
6. Charges, Taxes and Expenses. Issuance and delivery of shares of Common Stock in book-entry form upon exercise of this Warrant shall be made without charge to the Holder for any issue or transfer tax, transfer agent fee or other incidental tax or expense (excluding any applicable stamp duties) in respect of the issuance of such shares, all of which taxes and expenses shall be paid by the Company; provided, however, that the Company shall not be required to pay any tax that may be payable in respect of any transfer involved in the registration of any Warrant Shares or the Warrants in a name other than that of the Holder or an Affiliate thereof. The Holder shall be responsible for all other tax liability that may arise as a result of holding or transferring this Warrant or receiving Warrant Shares upon exercise hereof.
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7. Replacement of Warrant. If this Warrant is mutilated, lost, stolen or destroyed, the Company shall issue or cause to be issued in exchange and substitution for and upon cancellation hereof, or in lieu of and substitution for this Warrant, a New Warrant, but only upon receipt of evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Company of such loss, theft or destruction (in such case) and, in each case, a customary and reasonable contractual indemnity, if requested by the Company. If a New Warrant is requested as a result of a mutilation of this Warrant, then the Holder shall deliver such mutilated Warrant to the Company as a condition precedent to the Company’s obligation to issue the New Warrant.
8. Reservation of Warrant Shares. The Company covenants that it will, at all times while this Warrant is outstanding, reserve and keep available out of the aggregate of its authorized but unissued and otherwise unreserved Common Stock, solely for the purpose of enabling it to issue Warrant Shares upon exercise of this Warrant as herein provided, the number of Warrant Shares that are initially issuable and deliverable upon the exercise of this entire Warrant, free from preemptive rights or any other Purchase Rights (as defined below) of persons other than the Holder (taking into account the adjustments and restrictions of Section 9). The failure of the Company to reserve and keep available out of the aggregate of its authorized but unissued and otherwise unreserved Common Stock a sufficient number of shares of Common Stock to enable it to issue Warrant Shares upon exercise of this Warrant as herein provided is referred to herein as an “Authorized Share Failure.” The Company covenants that all Warrant Shares so issuable and deliverable shall, upon issuance and the payment of the applicable Exercise Price in accordance with the terms hereof, be duly and validly authorized, issued and fully paid and non-assessable. The Company will take all such action as may be reasonably necessary to assure that such shares of Common Stock may be issued as provided herein without violation of any applicable law or regulation, of any requirements of any securities exchange or automated quotation system upon which the Common Stock may be listed or of any contract to which the Company or any of its subsidiaries is bound. The Company further covenants that it will not, without the prior written consent of the Holder, take any actions to increase the par value of the Common Stock at any time while this Warrant is outstanding.
9. Certain Adjustments. The Exercise Price and number of Warrant Shares issuable upon exercise of this Warrant are subject to adjustment from time to time as set forth in this Section 9.
(a) Stock Dividends and Splits. If the Company, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding, (i) pays a stock dividend on its Common Stock or otherwise makes a distribution on any class of capital stock payable in shares of Common Stock, (ii) subdivides its outstanding shares of Common Stock into a larger number of shares of Common Stock, (iii) combines its outstanding shares of Common Stock into a smaller number of shares of Common Stock or (iv) issues by reclassification of shares of capital stock any additional shares of Common Stock of the Company, then in each such case the Exercise Price shall be multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately before such event and the denominator of which shall be the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately after such event. Any adjustment made pursuant to clause (i) of this paragraph shall become effective immediately after the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to receive such dividend or distribution, provided, however, that if such record date shall have been fixed and such dividend is not fully paid on the date fixed therefor, the Exercise Price shall be recomputed accordingly as of the close of business on such record date and thereafter the Exercise Price shall be adjusted pursuant to this paragraph as of the time of actual payment of such dividends. Any adjustment pursuant to clause (ii) or (iv) of this paragraph shall become effective immediately after the effective date of such subdivision or combination or issuance.
(b) Pro Rata Distributions. If on or after the Original Issue Date, the Company shall declare or make any dividend or other pro rata distribution of its assets (or rights to acquire its assets) (including, without limitation, by way of return of capital) to holders of shares of Common Stock (including, without limitation, any distribution of cash, stock or other securities, property, options, evidence of indebtedness or any other assets by way of a dividend, spin off, reclassification, corporate rearrangement, scheme of arrangement or other similar transaction, but, for the avoidance of doubt, excluding any distribution of shares of Common Stock subject to Section 9(a), any distribution of Purchase Rights subject to Section 9(c) and any Fundamental Transaction (as defined below) subject to Section 9(d)) (a “Distribution”) then, in each such case, upon any exercise of this Warrant that occurs after the record date fixed for determination of stockholders entitled to receive such distribution, the Holder shall be entitled to participate in such Distribution to the same extent that the Holder would have participated therein if the Holder had held the number of shares of Common Stock acquirable upon such exercise of this Warrant (without regard to any limitations or restrictions on exercise of this Warrant, including without limitation, the Maximum Percentage (as defined below)) immediately before the date on which a record is taken for such Distribution, or, if no such record is taken, the date as of which the record holders of shares of Common Stock are to be determined for the participation in such Distribution (provided, that to the extent that the Holder’s right to participate in any such Distribution would result in the Holder (including its Affiliates or members of a Section 13(d) group) exceeding the Maximum Percentage, then the Holder shall not be entitled to participate in such Distribution to such extent (and shall not be entitled to beneficial ownership of such shares of Common Stock as a result of such Distribution (and beneficial ownership) to such extent) and the portion of such Distribution shall be held in abeyance for the benefit of the Holder until such time or times as (all or a portion) its right thereto would not result in the Holder (including Affiliates and any member of a Schedule 13(d) group) exceeding the Maximum Percentage, at which time or times the Holder shall be granted (all or such portion of) such Distribution (and any Distributions declared or made on such initial Distribution or on any subsequent Distribution held similarly in abeyance) to the same extent as if there had been no such limitation).
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(c) Purchase Rights. If at any time on or after the Original Issue Date, the Company grants, issues or sells any Options, Convertible Securities or rights to purchase stock, warrants, securities or other property, in each case pro rata to the record holders of any class of Common Stock (the “Purchase Rights”), then the Holder will be entitled to acquire, upon the terms applicable to such Purchase Rights, the aggregate Purchase Rights which the Holder could have acquired if the Holder had held the number of shares of Common Stock acquirable upon complete exercise of this Warrant (without regard to any limitations or restrictions on exercise of this Warrant, including without limitation, the Maximum Percentage) immediately before the date on which a record is taken for the grant, issuance or sale of such Purchase Rights, or, if no such record is taken, the date as of which the record holders of Common Stock are to be determined for the grant, issuance or sale of such Purchase Rights (provided, that to the extent that the Holder’s right to participate in any such Purchase Right would result in the Holder (including any Affiliates or members of a Schedule 13(d) group) exceeding the Maximum Percentage, then the Holder shall not be entitled to participate in such Purchase Right to such extent (and shall not be entitled to beneficial ownership of such Common Stock as a result of such Purchase Right (and beneficial ownership) to such extent) and such Purchase Right to such extent shall be held in abeyance for the benefit of the Holder until such time or times as its right thereto would not result in the Holder (including Affiliates or members of a Schedule 13(d) group) exceeding the Maximum Percentage, at which time or times the Holder shall be granted such right (and any Purchase Right granted, issued or sold on such initial Purchase Right or on any subsequent Purchase Right to be held similarly in abeyance) to the same extent as if there had been no such limitation). As used in this Section 9(c), (i) “Options” means any rights, warrants or options to subscribe for or purchase shares of Common Stock or Convertible Securities and (ii) “Convertible Securities” mean any capital stock, debt, securities or other contractual rights (other than Options) directly or indirectly convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for shares of Common Stock.
(d) Fundamental Transactions. If, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding (i) the Company effects any merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another Person, in which the Company is not the surviving entity and in which the stockholders of the Company immediately prior to such merger or consolidation do not own, directly or indirectly, at least 50% of the voting power of the surviving entity immediately after such merger or consolidation, (ii) the Company effects any sale to another Person of all or substantially all of its assets in one transaction or a series of related transactions, (iii) pursuant to any tender offer or exchange offer (whether by the Company or another Person), holders of capital stock who tender shares representing more than 50% of the voting power of the capital stock of the Company and the Company or such other Person, as applicable, accepts such tender for payment, (iv) the Company consummates a stock purchase agreement or other business combination (including, without limitation, a reorganization, recapitalization, spin-off or scheme of arrangement) with another Person whereby such other Person acquires more than the 50% of the voting power of the capital stock of the Company (except for any such transaction in which the stockholders of the Company immediately prior to such transaction maintain, in substantially the same proportions, the voting power of such Person immediately after the transaction), provided, however, that the forgoing shall not include transactions for which the primary purpose is raising capital or (v) the Company effects any reclassification of the Common Stock or any compulsory share exchange pursuant to which the Common Stock is effectively converted into or exchanged for other securities, cash or property (other than as a result of a subdivision or combination of shares of Common Stock covered by Section 9(a)) (in any such case, a “Fundamental Transaction”), then following such Fundamental Transaction the Holder shall have the right to receive, upon exercise of this Warrant, the same amount and kind of securities, cash or property as it would have been entitled to receive upon the occurrence of such Fundamental Transaction if it had been, immediately prior to such Fundamental Transaction, the holder of the number of Warrant Shares then issuable upon exercise in full of this Warrant without regard to any limitations on exercise contained herein (the “Alternate Consideration”). The Company shall not effect any Fundamental Transaction in which the Company is not the surviving entity unless (i) the Alternate Consideration is solely cash and the Company provides for the simultaneous “cashless exercise” of this Warrant pursuant to Section 10 below or (ii)
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prior to or simultaneously with the consummation thereof, any successor to the Company, surviving entity or other Person (including any purchaser of assets of the Company) shall assume the obligation to deliver to the Holder such Alternate Consideration as, in accordance with the foregoing provisions, the Holder may be entitled to receive, and the other obligations under this Warrant. The provisions of this paragraph (c) shall similarly apply to subsequent transactions analogous of a Fundamental Transaction type.
(e) Number of Warrant Shares. Simultaneously with any adjustment to the Exercise Price pursuant to Section 9, the number of Warrant Shares that may be purchased upon exercise of this Warrant shall be increased or decreased proportionately, so that after such adjustment the aggregate Exercise Price payable hereunder for the increased or decreased number of Warrant Shares shall be the same as the aggregate Exercise Price in effect immediately prior to such adjustment. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event may the Exercise Price be adjusted below the par value of the Common Stock then in effect.
(f) Calculations. All calculations under this Section 9 shall be made to the nearest one-tenth of one cent or the nearest share, as applicable.
(g) Notice of Adjustments. Upon the occurrence of each adjustment pursuant to this Section 9, the Company at its expense will, at the written request of the Holder, promptly compute such adjustment, in good faith, in accordance with the terms of this Warrant and prepare a certificate setting forth such adjustment, including a statement of the adjusted Exercise Price and adjusted number or type of Warrant Shares or other securities issuable upon exercise of this Warrant (as applicable), describing the transactions giving rise to such adjustments and showing in detail the facts upon which such adjustment is based. Upon written request, the Company will promptly deliver a copy of each such certificate to the Holder and to the Company’s transfer agent.
(h) Notice of Corporate Events. If, while this Warrant is outstanding, the Company (i) declares a dividend or any other pro rata distribution of cash, securities or other property in respect of its Common Stock, including, without limitation, any granting of rights or warrants to subscribe for or purchase any capital stock of the Company or any subsidiary, (ii) authorizes or approves, enters into any agreement contemplating or solicits stockholder approval for any Fundamental Transaction or (iii) authorizes the voluntary dissolution, liquidation or winding up of the affairs of the Company, then, except if such notice and the contents thereof shall be deemed to constitute material non-public information, the Company shall deliver to the Holder a notice of such transaction at least ten (10) days prior to the applicable record or effective date on which a Person would need to hold Common Stock in order to participate in or vote with respect to such transaction; provided, however, that the failure to deliver such notice or any defect therein shall not affect the validity of the corporate action required to be described in such notice. In the event such notice and the contents thereof shall be deemed to constitute material non-public information, the Company shall (on the same time frame set forth in the immediately prior sentence) offer the Holder the ability to sign a confidentiality agreement related thereto sufficient to allow the Holder to receive such notice, and the Company shall deliver such notice immediately upon execution of such confidentiality agreement. If the holder does not sign the confidentiality agreement, then the Holder shall not receive such notice. In addition, if while this Warrant is outstanding, the Company authorizes or approves, enters into any agreement contemplating or solicits stockholder approval for any Fundamental Transaction contemplated by Section 9(d), other than a Fundamental Transaction under clause (iii) of Section 9(d), the Company shall deliver to the Holder a notice of such Fundamental Transaction at least thirty (30) days prior to the date such Fundamental Transaction is consummated. Holder agrees to maintain any information disclosed pursuant to this Section 9(h) in confidence until such information is publicly available, and shall comply with applicable law with respect to trading in the Company’s securities following receipt of any such information.
10. Payment of Exercise Price. Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, the Holder may, in its sole discretion, satisfy its obligation to pay the Exercise Price through a “cashless exercise”, in which event the Company shall issue to the Holder the number of Warrant Shares in an exchange of securities effected pursuant to Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, as determined as follows:
X = Y [(A-B)/A]
where:
“X” equals the number of Warrant Shares to be issued to the Holder; “Y” equals the total number of Warrant Shares with respect to which this Warrant is then being exercised;
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“A” equals the Closing Sale Price of the shares of Common Stock (as reported by Bloomberg Financial Markets) as of the Trading Day on the date immediately preceding the Exercise Date; and
“B” equals the Exercise Price then in effect for the applicable Warrant Shares at the time of such exercise.
For purposes of Rule 144 promulgated under the Securities Act, it is intended, understood and acknowledged that the Warrant Shares issued in a “cashless exercise” transaction shall be deemed to have been acquired by the Holder, and the holding period for the Warrant Shares shall be deemed to have commenced, on the date this Warrant was originally issued (provided that the Commission continues to take the position that such treatment is proper at the time of such exercise). In the event that a registration statement registering the issuance of Warrant Shares is, for any reason, not effective at the time of exercise of this Warrant, then the Warrant may only be exercised through a cashless exercise, as set forth in this Section 10. Except as set forth in Section 5(b) (Buy-In remedy) and Section 12 (payment of cash in lieu of fractional shares), in no event will the exercise of this Warrant be settled in cash.
11. Limitations on Exercise. Any Holder of Warrants shall be prohibited from exercising the Holder’s Warrants if, immediately prior to or following such exercise (or portion of such exercise thereof), the Holder, together with its Affiliates and any member of a Section 13(d) group, beneficially owns or would beneficially own as determined in accordance with Section 13(d) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules thereunder (the “Exchange Act”) more than [ ]% (the “Beneficial Ownership Limitation,” as it may be modified in accordance with this Section 11) of the issued and outstanding Common Stock or any other class of equity security (other than an exempted security) of the Company that is registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act. For purposes of calculating beneficial ownership, the aggregate number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by the Holder, together with its Affiliates and any member of the Section 13(d) group, shall include the number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the relevant Warrants with respect to which the determination is being made, but shall exclude the number of shares of Common Stock which are issuable upon (i) conversion of the remaining, unconverted Warrants beneficially owned by a Holder, together with its Affiliates and any member of a Section 13(d) group, and (ii) exercise or conversion of the unexercised or unconverted portion of any other securities of the Company beneficially owned by such Holder, together with its Affiliates and any member of a Section 13(d) group (including, without limitation, any convertible notes, convertible stock or warrants) that are subject to a limitation on conversion or exercise analogous to the limitation contained herein. For purposes of this Section 11(a), beneficial ownership and whether a Holder is a member of a Section 13(d) group shall be calculated and determined in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules promulgated thereunder, it being acknowledged and agreed that the Holder is solely responsible for any schedules required to be filed in accordance therewith. For purposes of the Warrants, in determining the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock, a Holder of Warrants may rely on the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock as reflected in (1) the Company’s most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, Current Report on Form 8-K or other public filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the case may be, (2) a more recent public announcement by the Company or (3) any other notice by the Company or the Company’s transfer agent setting forth the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding (the “Reported Outstanding Share Number”). If the Company receives an Exercise Notice from the Holder at a time when the actual number of outstanding shares of Common Stock is less than the Reported Outstanding Share Number, the Company shall (i) notify the Holder in writing of the number of shares of Common Stock then outstanding and, to the extent that such Exercise Notice would otherwise cause the Holder’s beneficial ownership, as determined pursuant to this Section 11(a), to exceed the Beneficial Ownership Limitation, the Holder must notify the Company of a reduced number of Warrant Shares to be purchased pursuant to such Exercise Notice (the number of shares by which such purchase is reduced, the “Reduction Shares”) and (ii) as soon as reasonably practicable, the Company shall return to the Holder any exercise price paid by the Holder for the Reduction Shares. For any reason at any time, upon the written or oral request of a Holder of Warrants, the Company shall within one (1) business day confirm to such Holder the number of shares of Common Stock then outstanding. In any case, the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock shall be determined after giving effect to the conversion or exercise of securities of the Company, including this Warrant, by the Holder, together with its Affiliates and any member of a Section 13(d) group, since the date as of which the Reported Outstanding Share Number was reported. In the event that the issuance of Common Stock to the Holder upon exercise of this Warrant results in the Holder, together with its Affiliates and any member of a Section 13(d) group, being deemed to beneficially own, in the aggregate, more than the Beneficial Ownership Limitation of the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock (as determined under Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act), the number of shares so issued by which the Holder’s, together with its Affiliates and any member of a Section 13(d) group, aggregate beneficial ownership exceeds the Beneficial Ownership Limitation (the “Excess Shares”) shall be deemed null and void and shall be cancelled ab initio and any portion of this Warrant so exercised shall be reinstated, and the Holder shall not have the power to vote or to transfer the Excess Shares.
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As soon as reasonably practicable after the issuance of the Excess Shares has been deemed null and void, the Company shall return to the Holder the exercise price paid by the Holder for the Excess Shares. By written notice to the Company, a Holder of Warrants may from time to time increase or decrease the Beneficial Ownership Limitation to any other percentage not in excess of 19.99% (the “Maximum Percentage”) specified in such notice; provided that any increase in the Beneficial Ownership Limitation will not be effective until the sixty-first (61st) day after such notice is delivered to the Company.
12. No Fractional Shares. No fractional Warrant Shares will be issued in connection with any exercise of this Warrant. In lieu of any fractional shares that would otherwise be issuable, the number of Warrant Shares to be issued shall be rounded down to the next whole number and the Company shall pay the Holder in cash the fair market value (based on the Closing Sale Price) for any such fractional shares.
13. Notices. Any and all notices or other communications or deliveries hereunder (including, without limitation, any Exercise Notice) shall be in writing and shall be deemed given and effective on the earliest of (i) the date of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via facsimile or confirmed e-mail at the facsimile number or e-mail address specified in the books and records of the Transfer Agent prior to 5:30 P.M., New York City time, on a Trading Day, (ii) the next Trading Day after the date of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via facsimile or confirmed e-mail at the facsimile number or e-mail address specified in the books and records of the Transfer Agent on a day that is not a Trading Day or later than 5:30 P.M., New York City time, on any Trading Day, (iii) the Trading Day following the date of mailing, if sent by nationally recognized overnight courier service specifying next business day delivery, or (iv) upon actual receipt by the Person to whom such notice is required to be given, if by hand delivery.
14. Warrant Agent. The Company shall initially serve as warrant agent under this Warrant. Upon thirty (30) days’ notice to the Holder, the Company may appoint a new warrant agent. Any corporation into which the Company or any new warrant agent may be merged or any corporation resulting from any consolidation to which the Company or any new warrant agent shall be a party or any corporation to which the Company or any new warrant agent transfers substantially all of its corporate trust or shareholders services business shall be a successor warrant agent under this Warrant without any further act. Any such successor warrant agent shall promptly cause notice of its succession as warrant agent to be mailed (by first class mail, postage prepaid) to the Holder at the Holder’s last address as shown on the Warrant Register.
15. Miscellaneous.
(a) No Rights as a Stockholder. Except as otherwise set forth in this Warrant, the Holder, solely in such Person’s capacity as a holder of this Warrant, shall not be entitled to vote or receive dividends or be deemed the holder of share capital of the Company for any purpose, nor shall anything contained in this Warrant be construed to confer upon the Holder, solely in such Person’s capacity as the Holder of this Warrant, any of the rights of a stockholder of the Company or any right to vote, give or withhold consent to any corporate action (whether any reorganization, issue of stock, reclassification of stock, consolidation, merger, amalgamation, conveyance or otherwise), receive notice of meetings, receive dividends or subscription rights, or otherwise, prior to the issuance to the Holder of the Warrant Shares which such Person is then entitled to receive upon the due exercise of this Warrant. In addition, nothing contained in this Warrant shall be construed as imposing any liabilities on the Holder to purchase any securities (upon exercise of this Warrant or otherwise) or as a stockholder of the Company, whether such liabilities are asserted by the Company or by creditors of the Company.
(b) Authorized Shares. (i) Except and to the extent as waived or consented to by the Holder, the Company shall not by any action, including, without limitation, amending its certificate or articles of incorporation or through any reorganization, transfer of assets, consolidation, merger, dissolution, issue or sale of securities or any other voluntary action, avoid or seek to avoid the observance or performance of any of the terms of this Warrant, but will at all times in good faith assist in the carrying out of all such terms and in the taking of all such actions as may be necessary or appropriate to protect the rights of Holder as set forth in this Warrant against impairment.
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Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Company will (a) not increase the par value of any Warrant Shares above the amount payable therefor upon such exercise immediately prior to such increase in par value, (b) take all such action as may be necessary or appropriate in order that the Company may validly and legally issue fully paid and non-assessable Warrant Shares upon the exercise of this Warrant, and (c) use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain all such authorizations, exemptions or consents from any public regulatory body having jurisdiction thereof as may be necessary to enable the Company to perform its obligations under this Warrant.
(ii) Before taking any action which would result in an adjustment in the number of Warrant Shares for which this Warrant is exercisable or in the Exercise Price, the Company shall obtain all such authorizations or exemptions thereof, or consents thereto, as may be necessary from any public regulatory body or bodies having jurisdiction thereof.
(c) Successors and Assigns. Subject to the restrictions on transfer set forth in this Warrant and compliance with applicable securities laws, this Warrant may be assigned by the Holder. This Warrant may not be assigned by the Company without the written consent of the Holder, except to a successor in the event of a Fundamental Transaction. This Warrant shall be binding on and inure to the benefit of the Company and the Holder and their respective successors and assigns. Subject to the preceding sentence, nothing in this Warrant shall be construed to give to any Person other than the Company and the Holder any legal or equitable right, remedy or cause of action under this Warrant. This Warrant may be amended only in writing signed by the Company and the Holder, or their successors and assigns.
(d) Amendment and Waiver. Except as otherwise provided herein, the provisions of the Warrants may be amended and the Company may take any action herein prohibited, or omit to perform any act herein required to be performed by it, only if the Company has obtained the written consent of the Holder.
(e) Acceptance. Receipt of this Warrant by the Holder shall constitute acceptance of and agreement to all of the terms and conditions contained herein.
(f) Governing Law; Jurisdiction. ALL QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE CONSTRUCTION, VALIDITY, ENFORCEMENT AND INTERPRETATION OF THIS WARRANT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED AND ENFORCED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PRINCIPLES OF CONFLICTS OF LAW THEREOF. EACH OF THE COMPANY AND THE HOLDER HEREBY IRREVOCABLY SUBMITS TO THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF THE STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS SITTING IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN, FOR THE ADJUDICATION OF ANY DISPUTE HEREUNDER OR IN CONNECTION HEREWITH OR WITH ANY TRANSACTION CONTEMPLATED HEREBY OR DISCUSSED HEREIN (INCLUDING WITH RESPECT TO THE ENFORCEMENT OF ANY OF THE TRANSACTION DOCUMENTS), AND HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVES, AND AGREES NOT TO ASSERT IN ANY SUIT, ACTION OR PROCEEDING, ANY CLAIM THAT IT IS NOT PERSONALLY SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION OF ANY SUCH COURT. EACH OF THE COMPANY AND THE HOLDER HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVES PERSONAL SERVICE OF PROCESS AND CONSENTS TO PROCESS BEING SERVED IN ANY SUCH SUIT, ACTION OR PROCEEDING BY MAILING A COPY THEREOF VIA REGISTERED OR CERTIFIED MAIL OR OVERNIGHT DELIVERY (WITH EVIDENCE OF DELIVERY) TO SUCH PERSON AT THE ADDRESS IN EFFECT FOR NOTICES TO IT AND AGREES THAT SUCH SERVICE SHALL CONSTITUTE GOOD AND SUFFICIENT SERVICE OF PROCESS AND NOTICE THEREOF. NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN SHALL BE DEEMED TO LIMIT IN ANY WAY ANY RIGHT TO SERVE PROCESS IN ANY MANNER PERMITTED BY LAW. EACH OF THE COMPANY AND THE HOLDER HEREBY WAIVES ALL RIGHTS TO A TRIAL BY JURY.
(g) Headings. The headings herein are for convenience only, do not constitute a part of this Warrant and shall not be deemed to limit or affect any of the provisions hereof.
(h) Severability. In case any one or more of the provisions of this Warrant shall be invalid or unenforceable in any respect, the validity and enforceability of the remaining terms and provisions of this Warrant shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby, and the Company and the Holder will attempt in good faith to agree upon a valid and enforceable provision which shall be a commercially reasonable substitute therefor, and upon so agreeing, shall incorporate such substitute provision in this Warrant.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this Warrant to be duly executed by its authorized officer as of the date first indicated above.
| FORTE BIOSCIENCES, INC. | ||
| By: |
|
|
| Name: | Paul Wagner | |
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
SCHEDULE 1
FORM OF EXERCISE NOTICE
[To be executed by the Holder to purchase shares of Common Stock under the Warrant]
Ladies and Gentlemen:
(1) The undersigned is the Holder of Warrant No. __ (the “Warrant”) issued by Forte Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”). Capitalized terms used herein and not otherwise defined herein have the respective meanings set forth in the Warrant.
(2) The undersigned hereby exercises its right to purchase Warrant Shares pursuant to the Warrant.
(3) The Holder intends that payment of the Exercise Price shall be made as (check one):
| ☐ | Cash Exercise |
| ☐ | “Cashless Exercise” under Section 10 of the Warrant |
(4) If the Holder has elected a Cash Exercise, the Holder shall pay the sum of $____ in immediately available funds to the Company in accordance with the terms of the Warrant.
(5) Pursuant to this Exercise Notice, the Company shall deliver to the Holder Warrant Shares determined in accordance with the terms of the Warrant.
(6) By its delivery of this Exercise Notice, the undersigned represents and warrants to the Company that in giving effect to the exercise evidenced hereby the Holder will not beneficially own in excess of the number of shares of Common Stock (as determined in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) permitted to be owned under Section 11(a) of the Warrant to which this notice relates.
| Dated: | ||
| Name of Holder: | ||
| By: | ||
| Name: | ||
| Title: | ||
(Signature must conform in all respects to name of Holder as specified on the face of the Warrant)
Exhibit 5.1
|
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professional Corporation
12235 El Camino Real San Diego, California 92130-3002
o: 858.350.2300 f: 866.974.7329 |
June 25, 2025
Forte Biosciences, Inc.
3060 Pegasus Park Drive, Building 6
Dallas, Texas 75247
| Re: | Registration Statement on Form S-3 |
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have acted as counsel to Forte Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), in connection with the filing by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) of a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-286226), under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which was declared effective on April 3, 2025 (the “Registration Statement”), the prospectus contained within the Registration Statement (the “Base Prospectus”), and the prospectus supplement to the Registration Statement dated June 24, 2025 (the “Prospectus Supplement” and together with the Base Prospectus, the “Prospectus”).
The Prospectus Supplement relates to the offer and sale of an aggregate of 5,630,450 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share (“Common Stock”), of the Company (the “Underwritten Shares”), pre-funded warrants to purchase 619,606 shares of Common Stock (the “Pre-Funded Warrants”, and such shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise, the (“Warrant Shares”)), and, at the option of the underwriters, up to an additional 937,508 shares of Common Stock (the “Option Shares” and together with the Underwritten Shares the “Shares”).
The offering and sale of the Shares are being made pursuant to the Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”), dated as of June 24, 2025, by and between the Company and TD Securities (USA) LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C., Guggenheim Securities, LLC, and Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, as representatives of the several Underwriters listed in Schedule A thereto.
We have examined copies of the Underwriting Agreement, the Registration Statement, together with the documents or portions thereof incorporated by reference therein, as modified or superseded as described therein, and the Prospectus. We have also examined instruments, documents, certificates and records that we have deemed relevant and necessary for the basis of our opinions hereinafter expressed.
Forte Biosciences, Inc.
June 25, 2025
Page 2
In such examination, we have assumed (i) the authenticity of original documents and the genuineness of all signatures, (ii) the conformity to the originals of all documents submitted to us as copies, (iii) the truth, accuracy, and completeness of the information, representations and warranties contained in the instruments, documents, certificates and records we have reviewed; (iv) that the Underwriting Agreement has been duly authorized and validly executed and delivered by the parties thereto (other than the Company); (v) that the Shares, the Pre-Funded Warrants, and the Warrant Shares will be issued and sold in compliance with the applicable U.S. federal and state securities laws and in the manner stated in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus; and (vi) the legal capacity of all natural persons. As to any facts material to the opinions expressed herein that were not independently established or verified, we have relied upon oral or written statements and representations of officers and other representatives of the Company. In making our examination of documents executed or to be executed, we have assumed that the counterparties thereto, excluding the Company, have been duly incorporated or organized and are, and will continue to be, validly existing and in good standing, and have or will have the requisite legal status and legal capacity under the laws of their respective jurisdictions of incorporation or organization and had or will have the power, corporate or other, to enter into and perform all obligations thereunder and have also assumed the due authorization by all requisite action, corporate or other, and execution and delivery by such parties of such documents and, except as expressly set forth in the paragraphs below, the validity and binding effect thereof on such parties.
Based upon and subject to the foregoing qualifications, assumptions and limitations and the further limitations set out below, we are of the opinion that (i) the Shares have been duly authorized by the Company and, when issued and delivered by the Company against payment therefor in accordance with the terms of and in the manner contemplated by the Underwriting Agreement, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable; (ii) the Pre-Funded Warrants, when duly executed and delivered by the Company against payment therefor as described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, will be binding obligations of the Company; and (iii) the Warrant Shares, when issued and paid for in accordance with the terms of the Pre-Funded Warrants, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.
We express no opinion as to the laws of any other jurisdiction other than the federal laws of the United States of America and the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware.
Our opinion that any document is legal, valid, binding and enforceable is qualified as to:
| (a) | limitations imposed by bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, arrangement, fraudulent transfer, moratorium or other similar laws relating to or affecting the rights of creditors generally; |
| (b) | rights to indemnification and contribution, which may be limited by applicable law or equitable principles; and |
| (c) | the effect of general principles of equity, including without limitation concepts of materiality, reasonableness, good faith and fair dealing, and the possible unavailability of specific performance or injunctive relief and limitation of rights of acceleration, regardless of whether such enforceability is considered in a proceeding in equity or at law. |
* * *
Forte Biosciences, Inc.
June 25, 2025
Page 3
We hereby consent to the use of this opinion as an exhibit to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on or about the date hereof, for incorporation by reference into the Registration Statement and to the use of our name wherever it appears in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and in any amendment or supplement thereto. In giving this consent, we do not admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act.
| Sincerely,
/s/ Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati |
| WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI, |
| Professional Corporation |
AUSTIN BOSTON BOULDER BRUSSELS HONG KONG LONDON LOS ANGELES NEW YORK PALO ALTO
SALT LAKE CITY SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SEATTLE SHANGHAI WASHINGTON, DC WILMINGTON, DE
Exhibit 99.1
FORTE BIOSCIENCES ANNOUNCES PRICING OF $75 MILLION PUBLIC OFFERING
DALLAS, TX – JUNE 24, 2025 – Forte Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: FBRX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases, today announced the pricing of a public offering of 5,630,450 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $12.00 per share and, in lieu of common stock to certain investors who so chose, pre-funded warrants to purchase up to 619,606 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $11.999 per pre-funded warrant, which represents the per share public offering price of each share of common stock less the $0.001 per share exercise price for each pre-funded warrant. In addition, Forte has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 937,508 shares of its common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. All of the shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants are being offered by Forte.
The gross proceeds from the offering are expected to be approximately $75 million before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses. The offering is expected to close on or about June 26, 2025, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Forte intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes, which includes funding clinical and preclinical development of its product candidate and other research activities.
TD Cowen, Evercore ISI, Guggenheim Securities and Chardan are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Lucid Capital Markets and Brookline Capital Markets, a division of Arcadia Securities, LLC are acting as co-managers for the offering.
The offering is being made pursuant to a Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-286226), including a base prospectus, previously filed with and declared effective by the SEC. A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to and describing the terms of the offering has been filed with the SEC. A final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus 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. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering, when available, may also be obtained from TD Securities (USA) LLC, 1 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017, by telephone at (855) 495-9846 or by email at TD.ECM_Prospectus@tdsecurities.com, Evercore Group L.L.C., Attention: Equity Capital Markets, 55 East 52nd Street, 35th Floor, New York, NY 10055, by telephone at (888)-474-0200, or by email at ecm.prospectus@evercore.com, Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Department, 330 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017, by telephone at (212) 518-9544, or by email at GSEquityProspectusDelivery@guggenheimpartners.com, and Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, One Pennsylvania Plaza, Suite 4800, New York, NY 10119.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities being offered, nor shall there be any sale of the securities being offered in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.
About Forte
Forte Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is advancing FB102, which is a proprietary anti-CD122 monoclonal antibody therapeutic candidate with potentially broad autoimmune and autoimmune-related indications.
Forward Looking Statements
Forte cautions you that statements included in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negatives of these terms or other similar expressions. These statements are based on the Forte’s current beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the completion and timing of the offering and the anticipated use of proceeds from the offering. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation: whether or not Forte will be able to raise capital through the sale of securities or consummate the offering; the final terms of the offering; the satisfaction of customary closing conditions; prevailing market conditions; general economic and market conditions as well as geopolitical developments; and other risks. Additional risks, uncertainties, and other information affecting Forte’s business and operating results are contained in Forte’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 15, 2025, and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this press release are current only as of the date hereof and, except as required by applicable law, Forte undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Contact:
Forte Biosciences, Inc.
investors@fortebiorx.com