GHENT, Belgium, 24 April 2018 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels and Nasdaq: ABLX] today announced, in accordance with Article 14 of the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 regarding the publication of major shareholdings in issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market (the "Transparency Law"), that it received two notifications of shareholdings from UBS Group AG on 18 April 2018.
UBS Group AG (taking into account the holdings of its subsidiary undertakings) has notified Ablynx that it has downward crossed the 3% threshold of voting rights held directly by controlled undertakings on 12 April 2018 and upward crossed this threshold again on 13 April 2018.
UBS Group AG now holds 5,528,330 voting securities of Ablynx, representing 7.35% of the current 75,253,667 outstanding voting rights of Ablynx (versus 7.21% notified previously on 10 April 2018).
The latest notification contains the following information:
- Reason for the notification:
- acquisition or disposal of voting securities or voting rights
- Notification by: a parent undertaking or a controlling person
- Persons subject to the notification requirement: USB Group AG
- Transaction date: 13 April 2018
- Threshold that is crossed: 3%
- Denominator: 75,253,667
- Details of the notification:
| Name of select subsidiaries of UBS | % of voting rights | % of voting rights held through financial instruments* | Total of both |
| UBS AG | 0.20% | 0.13%1 / 2.72%2 / 0.10%3 | 3.15% |
| UBS Asset Management Trust Company | 0.00% | 0.00% | |
| UBS Fund Management (Luxembourg) S.A. | 0.03% | 0.03% | |
| UBS Fund Management (Switzerland) AG | 0.03% | 0.03% | |
| UBS Hedge Fund Solutions LLC | 0.44% | 0.44% | |
| UBS Limited | 0.60% | 0.60% | |
| UBS O'Connor LLC | 1.35% | 1.35% | |
| UBS Switzerland AG | 0.84% | 0.13%1 / 0.11%2 / 0.67%2 | 1.75% |
| UBS Securities LLC | 0.00%3 | 0.00% | |
| TOTAL | 3.48% | 3.86% | 7.35% |
* Type of financial instrument: 1'Right to recall lent shares' and 2'Right to substitute shares delivered as collateral' and 3'Depository Receipt'
- Chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding is effectively being held: Please see the full chain of control in the Transparency Notification.
- Additional information: The disclosure obligation arose due to the total indirect holdings in voting rights of UBS Group AG, held directly by controlled undertakings going above 3% on 13 April 2018.
More information is available in the transparency notification. A full version of the transparency notifications is available on Ablynx website, under the section Investors (http://www.ablynx.com/investors/share-information/major-shareholders/).
The articles of the association of Ablynx NV provide for shareholders notification threshold of 3%, 5% or a multiple of 5% of the total number of existing voting rights.
About Ablynx
Ablynx (http://www.ablynx.com/) is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of Nanobodies (http://www.ablynx.com/technology-innovation/understanding-nanobodies/), proprietary therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, which combine the advantages of conventional antibody drugs with some of the features of small-molecule drugs. Ablynx is dedicated to creating new medicines which will make a real difference to society. Today, the Company has more than 45 proprietary and partnered programmes (http://www.ablynx.com/rd-portfolio/overview/) in development in various therapeutic areas including inflammation, haematology, immuno-oncology, oncology and respiratory disease. The Company has collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie; Boehringer Ingelheim; Eddingpharm; Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA; Merck KGaA; Novo Nordisk; Sanofi and Taisho Pharmaceuticals. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com (http://www.ablynx.com).
On 29 January 2018, Sanofi made an offer to acquire all of Ablynx's outstanding ordinary shares (including shares represented by American Depository Shares (ADSs), warrants and convertible bonds) at a price of €45 per share, which represents an aggregate equity value of approximately €3.9 billion. The proposed transaction was unanimously approved by both the Sanofi and Ablynx Board of Directors. The initial tender offer commenced on 4 April 2018 and will expire on 4 May 2018, subject to extension. Sanofi has published an offer document in which it set out the full details of its tender offer, and the Board of Directors of Ablynx published a response memorandum ('memorie van antwoord'), in which it set out its position on the tender offer.
For more information, please contact
Ablynx:
Dr Edwin Moses
CEO
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 07
m: +32 (0)473 39 50 68
e: edwin.moses@ablynx.com (mailto:edwin.moses@ablynx.com)
Lies Vanneste
Director Investor Relations
t: +32 (0)9 262 01 37
m: +32 (0)498 05 35 79
e: lies.vanneste@ablynx.com (mailto:lies.vanneste@ablynx.com)
Follow us on Twitter @AblynxABLX (https://twitter.com/AblynxABLX)
Ablynx media relations:
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Philippa Gardner, Sukaina Virji
t: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
e: ablynx@consilium-comms.com (mailto:ablynx@consilium-comms.com)
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Dan Katcher or Joseph Sala
t: +1 212-355-4449
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Ablynx via Globenewswire
