Last checked at 21 Dec 2018 07:00
21 December 2018
Fusion Antibodies plc
("Fusion" or the "Company")
Grant of Options
Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), a pharmaceutical contract research organisation specialising in antibody engineering services, announces that the Company has, on 20 December 2018, granted 1,225,000 options (the "Options") over ordinary shares of 4 pence in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") to certain Executive Directors and employees of the Company. These Options were granted pursuant to the Fusion Antibodies EMI and Unapproved Employee Share Option Scheme (the "Scheme"), adopted by the Company on 11 December 2017.
The Options have an exercise price of 54.5 pence per Option, being the closing mid-market price of an Ordinary Share on the day of grant. The Options will vest over a three-year period, with one third of the Options vesting each anniversary following the grant date and subject to continuing employment only. Once vested, the Options can be exercised for a period of ten years from the grant date.
Of the 1,225,000 Options issued, 600,000 of the Options have been granted to the Executive Directors of the Company as follows:
Name | Number of Options granted | Existing options over Ordinary Shares held | Total Options over Ordinary Shares held following grant |
Paul Kerr, CEO | 200,000 | 125,000 | 325,000 |
Richard Buick, CTO | 200,000 | 125,000 | 325,000 |
James Fair, CFO | 200,000 | 75,000 | 275,000 |
Following the grant of the Options, the Company has options in issue over a total of 1,701,250 Ordinary Shares, representing 7.7 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital. 1,225,000 of the options have been issued pursuant to the Scheme and the balance of 476,250 options have been issued outside of the Scheme.
Further detail is set out in the PDMR disclosure tables below.
Enquiries:
Fusion Antibodies plc | www.fusionantibodies.com | |
Dr Paul Kerr, Chief Executive Officer | Via Walbrook PR | |
James Fair, Chief Financial Officer | ||
Allenby Capital Limited | Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656 | |
James Reeve / Asha Chotai | ||
Walbrook PR | Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 or fusion@walbrookpr.com | |
Anna Dunphy | Mob: +44 (0)7876 740 001 | |
Paul McManus | Mob: +44 (0)7980 541 983 | |
Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them
1 | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated | |||||
a) | Name | Paul Kerr | ||||
2 | Reason for the notification | |||||
a) | Position/status | Chief Executive Officer | ||||
b)
| Initial notification /Amendment | Initial notification | ||||
3
| Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |||||
a) | Name | Fusion Antibodies plc | ||||
b) | LEI | 213800KBAYRC9VOQ9V39 | ||||
4
| Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted | |||||
a)
| Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument
Identification code | Options over ordinary shares of 4p each in Fusion Antibodies plc
Identification code (ISIN) for Fusion Antibodies plc ordinary shares: GB00BDQZGK16 | ||||
b) | Nature of the transaction | Grant of options over ordinary shares
| ||||
c) | Price(s) and volume(s) |
| ||||
d) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | N/A | ||||
e) | Date of the transaction | 20 December 2018 | ||||
f) | Place of the transaction | Outside a trading venue | ||||
1 | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated | |||||
a) | Name | Richard Buick | ||||
2 | Reason for the notification | |||||
a) | Position/status | Chief Technical Officer | ||||
b)
| Initial notification /Amendment | Initial notification | ||||
3
| Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |||||
a) | Name | Fusion Antibodies plc | ||||
b) | LEI | 213800KBAYRC9VOQ9V39 | ||||
4
| Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted | |||||
a)
| Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument
Identification code | Options over ordinary shares of 4p each in Fusion Antibodies plc
Identification code (ISIN) for Fusion Antibodies plc ordinary shares: GB00BDQZGK16 | ||||
b) | Nature of the transaction | Grant of options over ordinary shares
| ||||
c) | Price(s) and volume(s) |
| ||||
d) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | N/A | ||||
e) | Date of the transaction | 20 December 2018 | ||||
f) | Place of the transaction | Outside a trading venue | ||||
1 | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated | |||||
a) | Name | James Fair | ||||
2 | Reason for the notification | |||||
a) | Position/status | Chief Financial Officer | ||||
b)
| Initial notification /Amendment | Initial notification | ||||
3
| Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |||||
a) | Name | Fusion Antibodies plc | ||||
b) | LEI | 213800KBAYRC9VOQ9V39 | ||||
4
| Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted | |||||
a)
| Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument
Identification code | Options over ordinary shares of 4p each in Fusion Antibodies plc
Identification code (ISIN) for Fusion Antibodies plc ordinary shares: GB00BDQZGK16 | ||||
b) | Nature of the transaction | Grant of options over ordinary shares
| ||||
c) | Price(s) and volume(s) |
| ||||
d) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | N/A | ||||
e) | Date of the transaction | 20 December 2018 | ||||
f) | Place of the transaction | Outside a trading venue | ||||
About Fusion Antibodies plc
Fusion is a Belfast based contract research organisation ("CRO") providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications. The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx™ platform and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 100 humanisation projects for its international, blue-chip client base.
The Company was established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen's University Belfast. It was initially a drug development business but revised its operations to focus on CRO work in 2011. The Company has a highly experienced management team with a combined 47 years' experience in the biopharma industry. The global monoclonal antibody therapeutics market, which accounted for 43 per cent. of the global biologics market in 2016, was valued at between $85.4 billion and $86.7 billion in 2015 and is forecast to increase at a CAGR of between 8.2 per cent. and 12.2 per cent. for the period 2016 to 2024.