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 |
On December 6, 2023, 89bio, Inc. (the “Company”) entered into an underwriting agreement (“Underwriting Agreement”) with BofA Securities, Inc. and Leerink Partners LLC, as the representatives of the underwriters named therein (the “Underwriters”), to issue and sell 15,135,135 shares of the Company’s common stock at a public offering price of $9.25 per share and, in lieu of common stock to a certain investor, pre-funded warrants to purchase 1,081,081 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Pre-Funded Warrants”) at a public offering price of $9.249 per share, which represents the per share public offering price for the common stock less the $0.001 per share exercise price for each Pre-Funded Warrant (the “Offering”). In addition, the Company has granted the Underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to an additional 2,432,432 shares of its common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. On December 7, 2023, the Underwriters exercised their option in full.
The Pre-Funded Warrants will be exercisable at any time after the date of issuance. A holder of Pre-Funded Warrants may not exercise the warrant if the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own more than 4.99% or 9.99%, as applicable, of the number of shares of common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise. A holder of Pre-Funded Warrants may increase or decrease this percentage to a percentage not in excess of 19.99% by providing at least 61 days’ prior notice to the Company.
The net proceeds from the Offering are expected to be approximately $161.7 million, after deducting the Underwriters’ discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses and after giving effect to the Option.
The securities described above were offered pursuant to a shelf registration statement (File No. 333-272144), which was previously filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and automatically became effective on May 23, 2023. A final prospectus supplement dated December 6, 2023 relating to and describing the terms of the Offering was filed with the SEC on December 8, 2023. The Offering is expected to close on December 11, 2023.
In the Underwriting Agreement, the Company agreed to indemnify the Underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or to contribute payments that the underwriters may be required to make because of such liabilities.
A copy of the Underwriting Agreement and the form of Pre-Funded Warrant are filed as Exhibit 1.1 and 4.1, respectively, and are incorporated herein by reference. The foregoing descriptions of the Underwriting Agreement and the Pre-Funded Warrants do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to such exhibit.
A copy of the opinion of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP relating to the validity of the issuance and sale of the shares of the common stock and the Pre-Funded Warrants in the Offering is filed herewith as Exhibit 5.1.
| Item 9.01 | Financial Statements and Exhibits. |
(d) Exhibits
| Exhibit No. |
Description | |
| 1.1 | Underwriting Agreement, dated as of December 6, 2023, by and among 89bio, Inc., BofA Securities, Inc. and Leerink Partners LLC | |
| 4.1 | Form of Pre-Funded Warrant | |
| 5.1 | Opinion of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP | |
| 23.1 | Consent of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1) | |
| 104 | The cover page from the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K formatted in Inline XBRL. | |
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.
| Date: December 8, 2023 | 89bio, Inc. | |||||
| By: | /s/ Rohan Palekar | |||||
| Rohan Palekar | ||||||
| Chief Executive Officer | ||||||