Full Press Release Details
Corporation Announces the Pricing of Its Public Offering of Common Stock
MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 7, 2010--Geron Corporation
(Nasdaq:GERN) today announced the pricing of an underwritten public
offering of 17,391,305 shares of its common stock at a price to the
public of $5.00 per share. The gross proceeds to Geron from this
underwritten public offering are expected to be approximately $87.0
million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and
other estimated offering expenses. The offering is expected to close on
or about December 10, 2010, subject to customary closing conditions.
Geron has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up
to an additional 2,608,695 shares of its common stock to cover
over-allotments, if any. All of the shares in the offering are to be
Geron intends to use the proceeds from the offering for research and
development, including clinical trials for its product candidates,
clinical development of product candidates it has in-licensed, and other
general corporate purposes.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Lazard Capital Markets LLC are acting as
joint book-running managers of the offering. Rodman & Renshaw, LLC, Roth
Capital Partners, LLC and WBB Securities, LLC are acting as co-managers
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy any of these securities, nor will there
be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in
which such offer, solicitation or sale is not permitted.
A shelf registration statement together with an accompanying base
prospectus on Form S-3 relating to the shares was filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is effective. A preliminary
prospectus supplement relating to the offering has been filed with the
SEC and is available on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov.
A final prospectus supplement relating to these securities will be filed
with the SEC and, when available, may be obtained from the
above-mentioned SEC website or from the offices of J.P. Morgan
Securities LLC, Attn: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island
Avenue, Edgewood, New York, 11717, or by phone at (866) 803-9204, or
Lazard Capital Markets LLC at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 60th Floor, New
York, NY, 10020 or via telephone at (800) 542-0970.
Geron is developing first-in-class biopharmaceuticals for the treatment
of cancer and chronic degenerative diseases. The company is advancing
anti-cancer therapies through multiple Phase 2 clinical trials in
different cancers by targeting the enzyme telomerase and with compounds
designed to penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The company is
developing cell therapy products from differentiated human embryonic
stem cells for multiple indications, including central nervous system
(CNS) disorders, heart failure, diabetes and osteoarthritis, and has
initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial in spinal cord injury. For more
information, visit www.geron.com.
Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release regarding
the completion and timing of the public offering constitute
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties,
including, without limitation, risks related to the satisfaction of
customary closing conditions related to the public offering. There can
be no assurance that Geron will be able to complete the public offering
on the anticipated terms, or at all. Geron will continue to need
significant additional capital to fund its operations and may be unable
to raise capital when needed, which would force Geron to delay, reduce
or eliminate its product candidate development programs or
commercialization efforts. Actual results may differ materially
from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.
Additional information on potential factors that could affect our
results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in Geron's
preliminary prospectus supplement related to the public offering filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 6, 2010, and in
the prospectus supplement related to the public offering that Geron
expects to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or about
December 7, 2010, and from time to time in Geron's periodic reports,
including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2009 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
September 30, 2010, each available on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov.
Anna Krassowska, Ph.D., 650-473-7765