Merus Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Shares

On January 21, 2021 Merus N.V. (Nasdaq: MRUS) ("Merus", "we" and "our"), a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative, full-length multispecific antibodies (Biclonics and Triclonics), reported the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 4,848,485 common shares at a public offering price of $24.75 per share (Press release, Merus, JAN 21, 2021, View Source [SID1234574177]). The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $120 million. In addition, Merus granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 727,272 common shares at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. All of the shares in the offering are to be sold by Merus.

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The offering is expected to close on or about January 25, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

Merus intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to advance the clinical development of its product candidates, for preclinical research and technology development, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Jefferies LLC and SVB Leerink LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Kempen & Co is acting as lead manager for the offering. H.C. Wainwright & Co. and Roth Capital Partners are acting as co-managers for the offering.

The offering is being made pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 20, 2019 as a registration statement on Form F-3 and amended by a post-effective amendment to Form F-3 on Form S-3 filed on April 30, 2020, which was declared effective by the SEC on May 5, 2020. The offering will be made only by means of a written prospectus and prospectus supplement that form a part of the registration statement, which, for the avoidance of doubt, will not constitute a "prospectus" for the purposes of (i) the Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the "Prospectus Regulation") and has not been reviewed by any competent authority in any member state in the European Economic Area and (ii) the Prospectus Regulation as it forms part of domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the "UK Prospectus Regulation") and has not been reviewed by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom. A preliminary prospectus supplement to the prospectus describing the terms of the offering was filed with the SEC on January 19, 2021. A final prospectus supplement will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained, when available, from Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388, or by e-mail at [email protected] or SVB Leerink, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02110, by telephone at 1-800-808-7525, ext. 6132, or by e-mail at [email protected].

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

This press release is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of either the Prospectus Regulation or the UK Prospectus Regulation.

European Economic Area (EEA):

In relation to each member state of the EEA (each, a "Relevant State"), no shares of the Company have been offered or will be offered pursuant to the offering to the public in that Relevant State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the Company’s shares which has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant State and notified to the competent authority in that Relevant State, all in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation, except that offers of the Company’s shares may be made to the public in that Relevant State at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Regulation:

to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under Article 2 of the Prospectus Regulation;
to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined under Article 2 of the Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of the joint bookrunners; and
in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation,
provided that no such offer of the Company’s shares shall require us or any of our representatives to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 23 of the Prospectus Regulation and each person who initially acquires any shares or to whom any offer is made will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed to and with each of the representatives and us that it is a "qualified investor" as defined in the Prospectus Regulation.

For the purposes of the above, the expression an "offer of shares to the public" in relation to any shares in any Relevant State means the communication in any form and by means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase shares.

United Kingdom:

In addition, in the United Kingdom, the transaction to which this press release relates will only be available to, and will be engaged in only with persons who are (a) "qualified investors" (as defined in the UK Prospectus Regulation) (i) who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the Order), and/or (ii) who are high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order or (b) persons to whom it may otherwise be lawfully communicated (all such persons under (a) and (b) together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The securities referred to herein are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this communication or any of its contents.