Yakira urges Board to explore strategic alternatives before further cash burn and dilution erode shareholder value; questions decision to raise $50 million after shares fell approximately 44% at a valuation near fifty percent of net cash
WESTPORT, Conn., Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Yakira Capital Management, Inc. ("Yakira") a shareholder of Atrium Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNA), today called on the Company's Board of Directors to immediately initiate a strategic review, curtail cash spending and explain its perplexing decision to issue substantial equity at a deeply depressed valuation.
On October 8, Atrium announced a $50 million private placement involving approximately 5.17 million common shares and pre-funded warrants covering an additional 1.13 million shares, at an effective price of approximately $7.93 per share.
Why raise capital after the stock has fallen approximately 44% from its pre-HARBOR level of roughly $14 per share, as opposed to raising capital when the valuation was materially higher-or conduct a rights offering that would allow all existing shareholders to participate rather than leave them facing substantial dilution? The fact that this financing extends the Company's cash runway does not establish that its timing and structure maximize shareholder value.
Three Sources of Value - and a Market Valuation That Ignores Them
We believe Atrium's value should be assessed across three components.
First, net cash. We estimate that prior to the financing, Atrium had approximately $254 million in net cash at the end of the third quarter, equivalent to approximately $14.85 per share. At a share price below $8, the stock trades at a substantial discount to estimated net cash alone.
Second, the Bristol Myers Squibb collaboration. The agreement provides for up to $1.35 billion in research and development milestone payments, $825 million in commercial milestone payments, and tiered royalties reaching the low double digits. Atrium has already earned $30 million in such milestone payments. These payments are separate from revenue recognized for research and development services under the collaboration. Atrium's research collaboration spending is subject to a cumulative $40 million cap; the amount incurred to date and the remaining obligation should be clarified so shareholders can assess the Company's remaining financial exposure.
Third, Atrium's internal development pipeline, principally ATR 1072 and ATR 1086, which offers additional potential value beyond the Company's cash and collaboration economics. At less than $8 per share, investors are paying substantially less than our estimate of Atrium's net cash value alone, before assigning any value to the BMS collaboration or Atrium's internal pipeline. At these levels the market is assigning an extremely negative value to these pipeline assets - why has the Board not tested whether a strategic partner or acquirer would value them differently?
Shareholders Should Not Bear All the Risk
Atrium's lead program remains in early-stage clinical development, with meaningful proof of concept not expected until the second half of 2027. Management expects development spending to increase significantly, yet shareholders have not been given adequate visibility into the capital required to reach that milestone.
This raises a fundamental question for the Board: if Atrium may ultimately require a strategic partner or additional outside capital to fully realize the value of its programs following successful proof of concept, why should shareholders bear substantially all the clinical risk and fund the significant cash burn required to reach that point without first testing the strategic alternatives available today?
In mid-September, Yakira raised these concerns directly with management. On October 9, after the financing, we then submitted a detailed letter to Atrium's Board urging it to pursue strategic alternatives. The Board has not responded. Having made efforts to engage privately, we believe it is now necessary to publicly call for action to protect shareholder value.
Yakira Calls on the Board to Act
- Immediately initiate a strategic review with independent financial advisors, to evaluate partnerships, licensing transactions, asset sales, a merger or a sale of the Company.
- Preserve shareholder capital through disciplined spending controls and transparent estimates of the capital required to reach key clinical milestones.
- Explain the financing decision, including why capital was raised at this valuation and whether alternatives-including a rights offering-were adequately considered.
A strategic review does not require the Board to accept a transaction. It requires the Board to determine whether a better risk-adjusted outcome is available before more shareholder capital is committed. If management believes Atrium's pipeline has substantial value, potential pharmaceutical partners and acquirers should be given the opportunity to establish what that value is worth.
The Board's responsibility is to maximize long-term shareholder value, not simply finance the continuation of the standalone strategy. We urge the Board to act now, before further cash burn and dilution erode the value shareholders are entitled to realize.
Media Contact
Bruce Kallins
President
Yakira Capital Management
[email protected]
SOURCE Yakira Capital Management
