Debt

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Debt

Debt

	(Amounts in thousands)
	Successor		Predecessor
	December 31, 2021		December 31, 2020
Note Purchase Agreement	$	75,700	$	—
Convertible Term Notes	—		5,339
Term Loans	—		288
	$	75,700	$	5,627

Note Purchase Agreement

On October 1, 2021 (the “Signing Date”), the Company, as issuer, and certain of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiaries, as guarantors (the “Guarantors”), entered into a Note Purchase Agreement (the “Note Purchase Agreement”) with the Purchasers party thereto (the “Purchasers”), and Cocoon SA LLC (the “Agent”), an affiliate of Oberland Capital Management LLC, as agent for the Purchasers.

Under the Note Purchase Agreement, since amended on February 11, 2022, the Purchasers agreed to purchase, and the Company agreed to sell, tranches of secured notes in the aggregate principal amount of up to $300,000,000 as follows: (a) a secured note in the aggregate principal amount of $75,000,000 (the “First Purchase Note”), which was funded on October 4, 2021, (b) on and after the Signing Date until September 30, 2023, at the Company’s option, a secured

note in the aggregate principal amount of $75,000,000 (the “Second Purchase Note”), (c) on and after the Signing Date until December 31, 2023, at the Company’s option, a secured note in the aggregate principal amount of $50,000,000 (the “Third Purchase Note”), and (d) one or more secured notes in the aggregate principal amount of up to $100,000,000 at any time at the Company’s and Purchasers’ option, to be used to finance certain permitted acquisitions as described in the Note Purchase Agreement (the “Fourth Purchase Notes” and collectively with the First Purchase Note, the Second Purchase Note and the Third Purchase Note, the “Notes”). The obligations of the Purchasers to purchase the Notes are subject to certain conditions precedent.

The Notes will mature on the six-year anniversary of the First Purchase Date, unless earlier accelerated under the terms of the Note Purchase Agreement. At maturity, the Company must repay the outstanding principal amount of the Notes, together with any accrued and unpaid interest thereon and other outstanding obligations thereunder. Interest is payable quarterly during the term of the Notes at a rate per annum equal to the sum of (a) the greater of (i) LIBOR (which may be subject to replacement as contemplated by the Note Purchase Agreement) and (ii) 0.25% and (b) 7.75% (which percentage is subject to adjustment as described in the Note Purchase Agreement); provided that the interest rate shall never be less than 8.00%. The initial interest rate for the Notes is 8.00% per annum.

The Company’s obligations under the facility are secured by a first priority security interest in all assets of the Company and Guarantors, subject to variation in accordance with local law with respect to assets held by the Company and the Guarantors outside of the United States.

Starting on the date of the first commercial sale of lixivaptan, currently a product candidate under development by the Company, and ending on the tenth anniversary of the First Purchase Date, the Purchasers shall have the right to receive 1.0% (the “Revenue Participation Rate”) of the first $200.0 million of worldwide net sales of lixivaptan in each calendar year, payable quarterly (the “Revenue Participation Payments”). The Revenue Participation Rate is subject to pro-rata increase if the Second Purchase Notes and/or the Third Purchase Notes are issued and shall not exceed 2.67%.

In addition, upon the first regulatory approval of any of the Company’s product candidates by either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) or the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”), the Company is obligated to pay the Purchasers an amount equal to 30% of the aggregate principal amount issued under the Notes by the Company (the “Milestone Payment”). The Milestone Payment shall be paid in quarterly installments over five years beginning on the earlier of (i) the date of the first commercial sale following such regulatory approval; and (ii) the six month anniversary of such regulatory approval. The Milestone Payment is triggered one time only, and applies only to the Company’s first product to obtain regulatory approval.

The Company may redeem all, but not less than all, of the outstanding Notes (if any) and pay all other outstanding obligations under the Note Purchase Agreement. On the applicable date, the Company shall repurchase the Notes by paying an amount of up to (i) 175% of the principal amount issued under the Notes if such repurchase occurs on or prior to the third anniversary of the First Purchase Date, (ii) 185% of the principal amount issued under the Notes if such repurchase occurs between the third and sixth anniversaries of the First Purchase Date, and (iii) 205% of the principal amount issued under the Notes if such repurchase occurs thereafter, in each case less specified deductions and exclusions described in the Note Purchase Agreement, including amounts paid by the Company to the Purchasers in respect of certain asset sale or strategic transactions, the interest payments, the Revenue Participation Payments and the Milestone Payments (the “Final Payment Amount”). As of December 31, 2021, the cumulative payments under the Note Purchase Agreement, including interest payments, totaled $1.5 million.

Conversely, the Purchasers may require the Company to redeem any outstanding Notes by payment of the Final Payment Amount upon a sale, divestment or transfer of all or substantially all assets of the Company in a transaction or series of transactions or a change of control of the Company, a material breach of the Note Purchase Agreement and related transaction documents, an event of default under the Note Purchase Agreement or the tenth anniversary of the First Purchase Date (or such earlier date as described in the Note Purchase Agreement). In addition, upon certain asset sales and similar strategic transactions by the Company with respect to its own or its subsidiaries’ assets or businesses as described in the Note Purchase Agreement (other than a change of control described above), the Purchasers may require the Company to pay an amount in cash equal to up to 75% of the Net Proceeds (as defined in the Note Purchase Agreement) received from such asset sales, subject to such reduced amounts as described in the Note Purchase Agreement.

The Note Purchase Agreement contains customary affirmative and negative covenants, including with respect to notice obligations, limitations on new indebtedness, liens, investments and transactions with affiliates of the Company, restrictions on the payment of dividends, maintenance of collateral accounts, maintenance of insurance and addition of new subsidiaries as obligors. The Note Purchase Agreement also contains customary representations and warranties in favor of the Purchasers and the Agent. The Note Purchase Agreement contains customary events of default, which may cause the obligations of the Company to be accelerated. Such events include among others, failure to make payments when due, breach of covenants, insolvency, a cross-default to other indebtedness, a judgment event of default, and delisting of the Company’s securities from Nasdaq.

On February 11, 2022, Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc, as issuer, and certain of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiaries, as guarantors (the “Guarantors”), entered into an Amendment to Note Purchase Agreement (the “Amendment”) with Three Peaks Capital Solutions Aggregator Fund (the “Purchaser”), and Cocoon SA LLC (the “Purchaser Agent”), an affiliate of Oberland Capital Management LLC, as agent for the Purchaser to modify the Note Purchase Agreement (the “Note Purchase Agreement”), dated as of October 1, 2021 by and among the Company, the Guarantors, the Purchaser and the Purchaser Agent.

Under the terms of the Amendment, the Company acknowledged the existence of certain Events of Default, including the delivery by the Company of a landlord consent after the required delivery date of October 31, 2021 and the entry by a subsidiary of the Company into a Research Collaboration and License Agreement without the prior consent of Purchaser Agent; as well as other non-financial, administrative-related defaults. Under the Note Purchase Agreement, Events of Default may entitle the lenders to default interest, penalties and the ability to terminate the facility and to accelerate repayment of any outstanding loans in full. Pursuant to the Amendment, the lenders agreed to waive such Events of Default.

Pursuant to the Amendment, the Purchaser and the Purchaser Agent have also agreed to waive the requirement to obtain the consent of a certain licensee and waive certain of the insurance requirements contained in the Note Purchase Agreement. The Amendment also provides that the Company is required to maintain a cash balance in an amount equal to 75% of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of all issued Notes, as defined in the Note Purchase Agreement, that have been issued on and from February 11, 2022. Also pursuant to the Amendment, the date for the Third Purchase Date, as defined in the Note Purchase Agreement, and the Commitment Termination Date were extended to December 31, 2023. The Amendment also provides that upon the sale of any of the Company’s or any of its subsidiary’s assets, if the Purchaser Agent elects to have the Company repurchase the notes, such repurchase amounts will be subject to a $100 million deductible such that the Purchaser Agent will not collect any repurchase amounts until $100 million has been received by the Company from such sale event. In addition, the reduced payment cap that is triggered by the Purchaser Agent opting into a repayment in the event of an asset sale, extends to the second loan tranche, if drawn. The effectiveness of the Amendment is subject to certain conditions precedent and conditions subsequent.

The Company evaluated the Notes under ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and determined that the Notes include embedded derivatives that would otherwise require bifurcation as derivative liabilities. Neither the debt instrument nor any embedded features are required to be classified as equity. Therefore, the hybrid financial instrument comprised of the debt host and the embedded derivative liability may be accounted for under the fair value option. The Company has elected to carry the Notes at fair value, and the debt instrument is outside the scope of ASC 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity, and thus will be classified as a liability under ASC 470, Debt, in the Company’s consolidated financial position. As the Company has elected to account for the Notes under the fair value option, debt issuance costs of $1.3 million were immediately expensed.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Limited Convertible Term Notes

In December 2020, the Company entered into a convertible loan agreement (the Agreement) with Medicxi Growth, whereby the Company issued $5.0 million of unsecured convertible term notes to Medicxi Growth. The convertible loans were issued as a bridge financing in contemplation of completing the Series A financing. The convertible term notes had a stated interest rate of 8% per annum, which was not payable until settlement of the principal, being the maturity date June 29, 2021. Upon completion of the Company’s Series A preferred financing in January 2021, the Company issued 568,181 shares of its Series A convertible preferred shares and settled all outstanding principal and unpaid interest associated with the convertible term notes.

LockBody Therapeutics Ltd Convertible Term Notes

In July 2019, LockBody entered into a convertible term note agreement to issue up to £5.0 million of convertible term notes of which £3.0 million was received in July 2019 and an additional £1.0 million was received in November 2020.

The convertible term notes had a stated interest rate of 2% per annum, which was not payable until settlement of the principal, being the maturity date of August 2, 2021.

The principal and accrued interest due under the convertible term notes converts:

•into the class of LockBody’s shares issued in LockBody’s next qualified fund raising, at a conversion price after applying a 20% discount to the purchase price per share paid for the shares.

•on a change of control, at a conversion price after applying a 50% discount to the purchase price per share paid for the shares.

As a result of the fact that the convertible term notes were convertible into a variable number of preferred shares, the Centessa Predecessor Group evaluated the conversion provision as a redemption feature. The redemption feature was evaluated as an embedded derivative and bifurcated from the convertible term notes due to the substantial premium paid upon redemption and accounted for as a derivative instrument. Upon bifurcating the redemption feature, the Group recorded aggregate debt discounts of $0.7 million that is recognized in interest expense over the term of the convertible term notes. The notes and the derivative liability were assumed in connection with the acquisition of the Centessa Subsidiaries in January 2021 and immediately forgiven. The forgiveness was recognized as $6.2 million contribution within the Successor consolidated statement of shareholders’ equity during the period from January 30, 2021 through December 31, 2021.

Term loans with Ultrahuman

Prior to December 31, 2020, the Centessa Predecessor Group entered into term loan agreements with Ultrahuman Nine and Ultrahuman Ten, which are entities with common ownership with the Centessa Predecessor Group and with the Company. The term loans had a stated interest rate of 2% per annum above the Bank of England official rate and the outstanding balances was repayable on demand of the lenders. The Bank of England official rate was 0.10% at December 31, 2020.

An outstanding balance of the term loan with Ultrahuman Eleven was forfeited by the lender in February 2020, from which a gain on extinguishment of debt of $264,000 was recognized in the combined statements of operations and comprehensive loss for Centessa Predecessor Group during the twelve months ended December 31, 2020. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and for the period from January 1, 2021 through January 29, 2021, the Centessa Predecessor Group recognized interest expense of $5,000, and $1,000, respectively, in connection with the Ultrahuman loans. During the period from January 30, 2021 through December 31, 2021, the Company recognized interest expense of $3,000, in connection with the loans. The loans were repaid in May 2021.