UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
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| Item 1.01. | Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement. |
At Market Issuance Sales Agreement
On March 31, 2022, the Company entered into an At Market Issuance Sales Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. (“Ladenburg”). Under the Agreement, the Company may offer and sell its common stock, par value $0.001 per share, from time to time having an aggregate offering price of up to $25,000,000 (the “Shares”) during the term of the Agreement through Ladenburg. The Company has filed a prospectus supplement relating to the offer and sale of the Shares pursuant to the Agreement covering sales of up to $7,000,000 of Shares. The Shares will be issued pursuant to the Company’s previously filed and effective Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-256611), which was initially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 28, 2021, and declared effective on June 7, 2021. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, if any, for general corporate purposes, including funding existing and potential new clinical programs.
The Company is not obligated to sell any Shares pursuant to the Agreement. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, Ladenburg will use commercially reasonable efforts, consistent with its normal trading and sales practices and applicable state and federal law, rules and regulations and the rules of The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”), to sell Shares from time to time based upon the Company’s instructions, including any price, time or size limits or other customary parameters or conditions the Company may impose.
Under the Agreement, Ladenburg may sell Shares by any method permitted by law deemed to be an “at the market offering” as defined in Rule 415 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations thereunder, including, without limitation, sales made directly on or through Nasdaq, on or through any other existing trading market for the Shares or to or through a market maker. If expressly authorized by the Company, Ladenburg may also sell Shares in negotiated transactions.
The Agreement will terminate upon the earlier of (i) the issuance and sale of all of the Shares through Ladenburg on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Agreement or (ii) termination of the Agreement as otherwise permitted thereby. The Agreement may be terminated at any time by either party.
The Company has agreed to pay Ladenburg a commission equal to 3.0% of the gross proceeds from the sales of Shares pursuant to the Agreement and has agreed to provide Ladenburg with customary indemnification and contribution rights.
The foregoing summary of the Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Agreement, a copy of which is filed as Exhibit 10.1 hereto and incorporated herein by reference. The Agreement contains representations and warranties that the parties made to, and solely for the benefit of, the other in the context of all of the terms and conditions of the Agreement and in the context of the specific relationship between the parties. The provisions of the Agreement, including the representations and warranties contained therein, are not for the benefit of any party other than the parties to the Agreement and are not intended as a document for investors and the public to obtain factual information about the Company’s current state of affairs. Rather, investors and the public should look to other disclosures contained in the Company’s filings with the SEC.
The opinion of the Company’s counsel regarding the validity of the Shares that may be issued pursuant to the Agreement is filed herewith as Exhibit 5.1.
This Current Report on Form 8-K shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy Shares, nor shall there be any sale of the Shares 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.
| Item 9.01 | Financial Statements and Exhibits |
(d) Exhibits
| Exhibit |
Description | |
| 5.1 | Opinion of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PC | |
| 10.1 | At Market Issuance Sales Agreement between the Company and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. | |
| 23.3 | Consent of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation (contained in Exhibit 5.1 hereto) | |
| 104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document). | |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| Forte Biosciences, Inc. | ||||||
| Date: March 31, 2022 | By: | /s/ Paul Wagner | ||||
| Paul Wagner, Ph.D. | ||||||
| Chief Executive Officer | ||||||