Geron Corporation Announces Proposed Public Offering of Common Stock
MENLO PARK, Calif., Dec 06, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Geron Corporation (GERN)
today announced that it is offering to sell shares of its common stock in an
underwritten public offering. Geron also expects to grant the underwriters a
30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the shares of common stock
offered in the public offering to cover over-allotments, if any. All of the
shares in the offering are to be sold by Geron. The offering is subject to market
conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may
be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Lazard Capital Markets LLC are acting as joint
book-running managers of the offering.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an
offer to buy any of these securities, nor will there be any sale of these
securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation
or sale is not permitted. A shelf registration statement on Form S-3 relating to
the public offering of the shares of common stock described above was filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is effective. A preliminary
prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering will
be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC's web site at
sec.gov. When available, copies of the preliminary prospectus
supplement relating to these securities may also be obtained from the offices of
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attn: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long
Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York, 11717, or by phone at (866) 803-9204, and
Lazard Capital Markets LLC at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 60th Floor, New York, NY,
10020 or via telephone at (800) 542-0970.
=========================================================================Geron Corp. (GERN) moved to expand its clinical oncology pipeline through a
license agreement with privately held Angiochem Inc., saying it would pay for the
exclusive rights to Angiochem's peptide technology using a mix of cash and stock.
Shares of Geron, which focuses on cancer and chronic degenerative diseases,
dropped 7.5% to $5.66 in after-hours trading, as the issuance of new shares is
expected to dilute the stock's value.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Geron said it would pay
the Canada-based clinical-state biotechnology company $7.5 million in cash up
front, and up to 9 million shares on or about Jan. 5.
The number of shares to be issued by Geron is dependent on the price of the
company's stock prior to the issuance date, according to Geron. If the value of
the shares being offered is less than $27.5 million, Geron is obligated to pay
the difference in cash. Geron has about 97.5 million shares outstanding.
The license agreement, which also includes the possibility of milestone and
royalty payments, covers Angiochem's peptide technology to facilitate the
transfer of anti-cancer compounds across the blood-brain barrier to enable the
treatment of primary brain cancers.
Geron is advancing an anticancer drug and a cancer vaccine through multiple
clinical trials in different cancers. In October, it reported its third-quarter
loss widened as expenses grew. It generated $546,000 in revenue that quarter from
collaborative agreements and license fees and royalties. |
