12. Capital Stock

Rights Offering 2019

On December 2, 2019, the Company commenced a rights offering to raise up to $22.0 million through the distribution of subscription rights to holders of its common stock, Series X preferred stock and Series Y preferred stock (the “2019 Rights Offering”). In December 2019, the Company sold a total of 1,000,000 shares of common stock under the 2019 Rights Offering for aggregate gross proceeds of $22.0 million. Total offering costs of $0.2 million were offset against the proceeds from the sale of common stock, for total net proceeds of $21.8 million.

The 2019 Rights Offering was fully backstopped by Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P. (“BVF”) pursuant to the terms of an Investment Agreement between the Company and BVF (the “Investment Agreement”).  In total, BVF purchased 845,463 shares of common stock and the Company will pay approximately $18,000 for BVF’s reasonable legal fees and expenses in connection with the Investment Agreement and the 2019 Rights Offering. One of the Company’s Directors, Matthew Perry, is the President of BVF. Each share of common stock has a stated value of $22.00 per share. As of December 31, 2019, BVF owned approximately 27.1% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock, and if all of the Series X and Series Y convertible preferred shares were converted, BVF would own 55.6% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock. Due to its significant equity ownership, BVF is considered a related party of the Company.

Preferred Stock

The Company sold directly to BVF 5,003 shares of Series X convertible preferred stock in 2017 and 1,252.772 shares of Series Y preferred stock in 2018. The Series X and Series Y convertible preferred stock have the following characteristics, which are set forth in Certificates of Designation of Preferences, Rights and Limitations filed with the Delaware Secretary of State.

Dividends— Holders of convertible preferred stock are entitled to receive dividends on shares of convertible preferred stock equal (on an as if converted to common stock basis) to and in the same form as dividends actually paid on the Company’s common stock.

Liquidation Rights— In the event of the Company’s liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of convertible preferred stock will participate, on a pro-rata basis, with any distribution of proceeds to holders of common stock.

Conversion— Each share of Series X and Series Y is convertible into 1,000 shares of registered common stock based on a conversion price of $4.03 per share and $13.00 per share of common stock, respectively.

Voting Rights— Convertible preferred stock will generally have no voting rights, except as required by law and except that the consent of the holders of the outstanding convertible preferred stock will be required to amend the terms and to issue additional shares of the preferred stock.

Classification— The Company evaluated the convertible preferred stock for liability or equity classification under the applicable accounting guidance and determined that equity treatment was appropriate because the convertible preferred stock did not meet the definition of the liability instruments defined thereunder for convertible instruments. Specifically, the convertible preferred shares are not mandatorily redeemable and do not embody an obligation to buy back the shares outside of the Company’s control in a manner that could require the transfer of assets. Additionally, the Company determined that the convertible preferred stock would be recorded as permanent equity, not temporary equity, given that they are not redeemable for cash or other assets (i) on a fixed or determinable date, (ii) at the option of the holder, and (iii) upon the occurrence of an event that is not solely within control of the Company. The Company has also evaluated the embedded conversion and contingent redemption features within the convertible preferred stock in accordance with the accounting guidance for derivatives and determined that bifurcation is not required for any embedded feature.

Beneficial Conversion Feature— The fair value of the common stock into which the Series X convertible preferred stock is convertible exceeded the allocated purchase price of the Series X convertible preferred stock by $5.6 million on the date of issuance, as such the Company recorded a deemed dividend. The Company recognized the resulting beneficial conversion feature as a deemed dividend equal to the number of shares of Series X convertible preferred stock sold on February 16, 2017 multiplied by the difference between the fair value of the common stock and the Series X convertible preferred stock effective conversion price per share on that date. The dividend was reflected as a one-time, non-cash, deemed dividend to the holders of Series X convertible preferred stock on the date of issuance, which is the date the stock first became convertible. There was no beneficial conversion feature associated with the issuance of Series Y convertible preferred stock.

 

2018 ATM Agreement

On December 18, 2018, the Company entered into an At The Market Issuance Sales Agreement (the “2018 ATM Agreement”) with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC (“HCW”), under which the Company may offer and sell from time to time at its sole discretion shares of its common stock through HCW as its sales agent, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $30.0 million. HCW may sell the shares by any method permitted by law deemed to be an “at the market” offering as defined in Rule 415 of the Securities Act, and will use its commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices to sell the shares up to the amount specified. The Company will pay HCW a commission of up to 3% of the gross proceeds of any shares of common stock sold under the 2018 ATM Agreement. No shares have been sold under the 2018 ATM Agreement since the agreement was executed.