Debt Financing

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Debt Financing

Debt Financing

13. Debt Financing

On August 2, 2022 the Company, and the Subsidiary Guarantors, entered into the Financing Agreement with Perceptive. On December 19, 2022, the Financing Agreement was converted to a Notes Purchase Agreement between the same parties and under substantially the same terms and conditions as the Financing Agreement, subject to certain customary note constitution terms. The Company and the Subsidiary Guarantors entered into a

Consent and Amendment with Perceptive on August 10, 2023 (the “First Consent and Amendment), and the Company and the Subsidiary Guarantors entered into a second Consent and Amendment with Perceptive on December 20, 2023.

The Notes Purchase Agreement provides for an initial $75.0 million notes issuance (the “Tranche 1 Notes”). Pursuant to the First Consent and Amendment, the Company may request in its sole discretion, and Perceptive has agreed to subscribe to purchase upon such request, an additional $25.0 million notes issuance (the “Tranche 2 Notes”) at any time before August 2, 2024 subject to the terms of the Notes Purchase Agreement. Previously, the Company’s request for issuance of the Tranche 2 Notes was to be determined at Perceptive’s sole discretion. The Notes Purchase Agreement matures on August 2, 2026 and is interest-only during the term. The Company has the option to redeem outstanding principal notes at any time along with an applicable early redemption fee. Under each of the First Consent and Amendment and the Second Consent and Amendment, the Notes Purchase Agreement was amended to increase the applicable early redemption fee. Outstanding amounts under the Notes Purchase Agreement bear interest at a fluctuating rate per annum equal to 10.00% plus the secured overnight financing rate administered by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for a one-month tenor, subject to a 1.00% floor. The annual interest rate was 15.32% at December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, the outstanding balance of the Tranche 1 Notes was $75.0 million plus accrued interest of $3.0 million. During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company recorded interest expense of $11.3 million and $4.0 million, respectively.

The Company’s obligations under the Notes Purchase Agreement are secured by the Company’s London, UK and Shannon, Ireland manufacturing facilities, $3.0 million of the Company’s cash and the bank accounts of the Subsidiary Guarantors, and the issued and outstanding equity interests of the Subsidiary Guarantors.

The Notes Purchase Agreement imposes certain covenants and restrictions on the Company and the Subsidiary Guarantors, including restrictions pertaining to: (i) the incurrence of additional indebtedness, (ii) limitations on liens, (iii) limitations on certain investments, (iv) making distributions, dividends and other payments, (v) mergers, consolidations and acquisitions, (vi) dispositions of assets, (vii) the Company’s maintenance of at least $3.0 million in a U.S. bank account, (viii) transactions with affiliates, (ix) changes to governing documents, (x) changes to certain agreements and leases and (xi) changes in control; however, certain of these restrictions contain exceptions which allow the Company to license, sell and monetize assets in its AAV-hAQP1 program in development to treat radiation-induced xerostomia, its AAV-GAD program in development to treat Parkinson’s disease and its gene regulation platform technologies.

In connection with entering into the Financing Agreement, the Company granted warrants to Perceptive to purchase up to (i) 400,000 ordinary shares of the Company at an exercise price of $15.00 per share and (ii) 300,000 ordinary shares of the Company at an exercise price of $20.00 per share. The warrants are exercisable immediately and expire on August 2, 2027. The Company recorded a debt discount of $2.3 million for the allocated fair value of the warrants.

The Company also capitalized certain lender and legal costs associated with the Notes Purchase Agreement totaling $2.1 million, which were recorded as a discount to the loan. The aggregate discount of $4.4 million is being amortized to interest expense over the term of the Notes Purchase Agreement. The Company amortized $1.1 million and $0.4 million of the discount to interest expense during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. At December 31, 2023, the remaining unamortized discount was $2.9 million.