Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd F-3/A, filed Jun 17, 2022
Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd (CNTB)
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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 17, 2022
Registration No. 333-264340
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Amendment No. 2
to
FORM F-3
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
CONNECT BIOPHARMA HOLDINGS LIMITED
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Not Applicable
(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)
| Cayman Islands | Not Applicable | |
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(IRS Employer Identification No.) |
Science and Technology Park
East R&D Building, 3rd Floor
6 Beijing West Road, Taicang
Jiangsu, the People’s Republic of China 215400
Tel: +86 512 5357 7866
(Address and telephone number of Registrant’s principal executive offices)
Connect Biopharm LLC
12265 El Camino Real, Suite 350
San Diego, CA 92130
Tel: +1 858 344 1036
(Name, address, and telephone number of agent for service)
With copies to:
| Cheung Ying (Cathy) Yeung, Esq. Latham & Watkins LLP 18th Floor, One Exchange Square 8 Connaught Place, Central Hong Kong +852 2912 2500 |
Michael E. Sullivan, Esq. Latham & Watkins LLP 12670 High Bluff Drive San Diego, CA 92130 Tel: +1 858 523 5400 |
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after the effective date of this Registration Statement.
If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box. ☐
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box. ☒
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction I.C. or a post-effective amendment thereto that shall become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act, check the following box. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction I.C. filed to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933.
Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.
We hereby amend this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until we file a further amendment which will specifically state that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
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EXPLANATORY NOTE
This registration statement contains:
| • | A base prospectus, which covers the offering, issuance and sales by us of up to $300,000,000 in the aggregate of our American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) each representing one of our ordinary shares (“Ordinary Shares”) from time to time in one or more offerings; and |
| • | A sales agreement prospectus covering the offering, issuance and sale by us of up to a maximum aggregate offering price of up to $150,000,000 of the ADSs that may be issued and sold from time to time under a sales agreement (the “Sales Agreement”), with SVB Securities LLC (“SVB Securities”) and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”). |
The base prospectus immediately follows this explanatory note. The specific terms of any securities to be offered pursuant to the base prospectus will be specified in a prospectus supplement to the base prospectus. The Sales Agreement prospectus immediately follows the base prospectus. The $150,000,000 of ADSs that may be offered, issued and sold under the Sales Agreement prospectus is included in the $300,000,000 of securities that may be offered, issued and sold by us under the base prospectus. Upon termination of the Sales Agreement, any portion of the $150,000,000 included in the Sales Agreement prospectus that is not sold pursuant to the Sales Agreement will be available for sale in other offerings pursuant to the base prospectus, and if no ADSs are sold under the Sales Agreement, the full $150,000,000 of securities may be sold in other offerings pursuant to the base prospectus.
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The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is declared effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell the securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
Subject to Completion, dated June 17, 2022
PROSPECTUS
Up to $300,000,000 of American Depositary Shares
Representing Ordinary Shares
Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited, a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands in November 2015 (“Connect,” the “Company,” the “Group,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company” and “Connect Biopharma”), may from time to time offer and sell, in one or more offerings, up to $300,000,000 of our American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, each representing one ordinary share, par value $0.000174 per share. Any time we offer the ADSs covered by this prospectus, we will provide a prospectus supplement, if required. Any such prospectus supplement will provide specific information about the terms of that offering and may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus.
We may offer our ADSs for sale directly to purchasers or through underwriters, dealers or agents to be designated at a future date. If any underwriters, dealers or agents are involved in the sale of any of the ADSs, their names, and any applicable purchase price, fee, commission or discount arrangement between or among them will be set forth, or will be calculable from the information set forth, in the applicable prospectus supplement. See the “Plan of Distribution” and “About this Prospectus” sections for more information.
Our principal executive offices are located at Science and Technology Park, East R&D Building, 3rd Floor, 6 Beijing West Road, Taicang, Jiangsu, the People’s Republic of China 215400, and our telephone number is +86 512 5357 7866. Our registered address in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands.
You should read this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement as well as the documents incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus carefully before you invest in our ADSs together with additional information described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.” Our ADSs are quoted on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “CNTB.” The closing price of our ADSs, as reported on the Nasdaq Global Market on June 16, 2022, was $0.70.
Investing in our ADSs involves risks. We are not a Chinese operating company but a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. As a holding company with no material operations of our own, we conduct operations primarily through our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, some of which were established in the People’s Republic of China, or the PRC. The securities offered in this prospectus are securities of our Cayman Islands holding company, not of our operating subsidiaries.
Additionally, we are subject to certain legal and operational risks associated with our subsidiaries’ operations in the PRC. PRC laws and regulations governing our current business operations are sometimes vague and uncertain, and therefore, these risks may result in a material negative change in our subsidiaries’ operations, significant depreciation of the value of our ADSs, or a complete hindrance of our ability to offer or continue to offer our securities to investors, which could cause the value of your securities to become worthless. Recently, the PRC government initiated a series of regulatory actions and statements to regulate business operations in the PRC with little advance notice, including cracking down on illegal activities in the securities market, enhancing supervision over PRC-based companies listed overseas using variable interest entity structure, or VIE structure, adopting new measures to extend the scope of cybersecurity reviews, and expanding the efforts in anti-monopoly enforcement. Since these statements and regulatory actions are new, it is highly uncertain how soon legislative or administrative regulation making bodies will respond and what existing or new laws or regulations or detailed implementations and interpretations will be modified or promulgated, if any, and the potential impact of such modified or new laws and regulations will have on our daily business operation, the ability to accept
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foreign investments and list on a U.S. or other foreign exchange. Although we do not have a VIE structure, due to our operations in the PRC, any future PRC, U.S. or other rules and regulations that place restrictions on capital raising or other activities or require enhanced disclosure by PRC-based companies could adversely affect our business and results of operations. If the business environment in the PRC deteriorates from the perspective of domestic or international investment, the PRC government may intervene with our operations and our business in the PRC and the United States, and the market price of our ADSs could be adversely affected. In addition, in May 2022, we were conclusively identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCAA. Consequently, as early as 2024, our securities will be prohibited from trading on a national exchange or over-the-counter under the HFCAA if the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, is unable to inspect or fully investigate our independent registered public accounting firm located in China for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, and as a result the Nasdaq Global Market may make a determination to delist our securities. The trading prohibition could be accelerated to 2023 if the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act is enacted. Our independent registered public accounting firm that issued the audit report included in our annual report filed with the SEC, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because we have substantial operations within the PRC and the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct full inspections of the work of our independent registered public accounting firm as it relates to those operations without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our independent registered public accounting firm is not currently inspected by the PCAOB. This lack of PCAOB inspections in the PRC prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our independent registered public accounting firm’s audits and its quality control procedures, and our independent registered public accounting firm is therefore subject to the determinations announced by the PCAOB on December 16, 2021. As a result, investors are deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.
Risks associated with an investment in our ADSs will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement and certain of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as described under “Risk Factors” on page 15 of this prospectus.
We are dependent upon cash dividends, distributions and other transfers from our subsidiaries to make dividend payments. As of the date of this prospectus, there have not been any such dividends or other distributions from our subsidiaries. In addition, none of our subsidiaries have ever issued any dividends or distributions to us or to U.S. investors. See the section titled “Our Company—Cash Transfer and Dividend Payment” beginning on page 7 of the prospectus. The majority of our income is received in Renminbi, and shortages in foreign currencies may restrict our ability to pay dividends or other payments, or otherwise satisfy our foreign currency denominated obligations, if any. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and expenditures from trade-related transactions can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from the State Administration of the Foreign Exchange in the PRC as long as certain procedural requirements are met. Approval from appropriate government authorities is required if Renminbi is converted into foreign currency and remitted out of the PRC to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may, at its discretion, impose restrictions on access to foreign currencies for current account transactions and if this occurs in the future, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders. See the section titled “Our Company—Cash Transfer and Dividend Payment” beginning on page 7 of this prospectus for details.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
This prospectus is dated , 2022.
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This document is called a prospectus and is part of a Registration Statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, using a “shelf” registration process. Under this process we may, from time to time, offer and sell, in one or more offerings, up to $300,000,000 of our American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, each representing one ordinary share, par value $0.000174 per share. The offer and sale of our ADSs under this prospectus may be made from time to time, in one or more offerings, in any manner described under the section in this prospectus entitled “Plan of Distribution.”
This prospectus only provides you with a general description of the ADSs that we may offer. Each time we sell our ADSs, we will provide a prospectus supplement containing specific information about the offering, if required. Any such prospectus supplement may include a discussion of any risk factors or other special considerations that apply to that offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change the information in this prospectus. If there is any inconsistency between the information in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information in that prospectus supplement. Before purchasing any of our ADSs, you should carefully read both this prospectus and any prospectus supplement together with additional information incorporated by reference herein and described under the headings “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation by Reference.”
The registration statement containing this prospectus, including exhibits to the registration statement, provides additional information about us and the ADSs offered under this prospectus. The registration statement can be read on the SEC website or at the SEC office mentioned under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”
When acquiring any ADSs described in this prospectus, you should rely only on the information provided in this prospectus and in any applicable prospectus supplement, including the information incorporated by reference. Neither we nor any underwriter, dealer or agent have authorized anyone to provide you with different information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. We are not offering our ADSs in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is prohibited. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement or any document incorporated by reference is truthful or complete at any date other than the date mentioned on the cover page of any such document.
We may sell our ADSs to underwriters who will sell the securities to the public at a fixed offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. The applicable prospectus supplement will contain the names of the underwriters, dealers or agents, if any, together with the terms of offering, the compensation of those underwriters, dealers or agents and the net proceeds to us. Any underwriters, dealers or agents participating in the offering may be deemed “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act.
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this prospectus to the terms “Connect,” the “Company,” the “Group,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company” and “Connect Biopharma” refer to Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited, together with our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited, Connect Biopharm LLC, Connect Biopharma Australia PTY LTD, Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd., Connect Biopharma (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Connect Biopharma (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Connect Biopharma (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
All references in this prospectus to “$”, “US$”, “USD”, “U.S. dollars” and “dollars” mean U.S. dollars and all references to “¥” and “RMB” mean renminbi. Our reporting currency is the renminbi. Unless otherwise indicated, all monetary amounts in this annual report are in renminbi. This prospectus contains translations of specific foreign currency amounts into U.S. dollars for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from renminbi to U.S. dollars were made at RMB 6.3757 to $1.00, representing the exchange rate as of December 31, 2021 set forth in the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
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We use our trademarks in this prospectus as well as trademarks, tradenames and service marks that are the property of other organizations. Solely for convenience, trademarks and tradenames referred to in this prospectus appear without the ® and ™ symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or that the applicable owner will not assert its rights, to these trademarks and tradenames.
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General Information
We are not a Chinese operating company but a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. As a holding company with no material operations of our own, we conduct operations primarily through our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, some of which were established in the PRC. The securities offered in this prospectus are securities of our Cayman Islands holding company, not of our operating subsidiaries.
We are subject to certain legal and operational risks associated with our subsidiaries’ operations in the PRC. PRC laws and regulations governing our current business operations are sometimes vague and uncertain. Recently, the PRC government initiated a series of regulatory actions and statements to regulate business operations in the PRC with little advance notice. Therefore, these risks may result in a material negative change in our subsidiaries’ operations, significant depreciation of the value of our ADSs, or a complete hindrance of our ability to offer or continue to offer our securities to investors, which could cause the value of your securities to become worthless. See “Risk Factors — PRC government agencies may exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and non-PRC investment in PRC-based issuers. We face uncertainty about future actions by the PRC government that could significantly affect our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and could significantly negatively affect the value of our ADSs.” and “Risk Factors — Changes in the political and economic policies of the PRC government may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and may result in our inability to sustain our growth and expansion strategies.”
For example, on December 24, 2021, the CSRC released the draft Administrative Provisions on the Offshore Listing and Securities Issuance of PRC-Based Companies and the draft Administrative Measures on the Filing of Offshore Listing and Securities Issuance of PRC-Based Companies for public comments through January 23, 2022 (collectively, the “CSRC Draft Rules”). Under the CSRC Draft Rules (if enacted), an overseas-listed issuer must complete a filing for a follow-on offering with the CSRC within three business days upon the completion of the follow-on offering and will be prohibited from offering securities on foreign exchanges under certain circumstances. See “Risk Factors — The approval of the CSRC may be required under a PRC regulation in connection with any future offerings of our securities in the U.S. market. The regulation also establishes more complex procedures for acquisitions conducted by non-PRC investors that could make it more difficult for us to grow through acquisitions.” Considering that the CSRC Draft Rules have not come into effect, based on the advice of our outside PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, we believe this offering or offerings are not subject to the approval of the CSRC according to currently effective PRC laws, regulations and rules. According to the information released by the CSRC officials upon the publication of the CSRC Draft Rules, the filing requirements proposed under the said rules will apply to future offerings and listings, and existing overseas-listed companies will be given a transition period in which to comply. This means that, if we complete the proposed offering or offerings before the effectiveness of the CSRC Draft Rules, we could be subject to the filing requirements with the CSRC only in connection with any future offerings, or we could be granted a transition period to complete the filing procedure with respect to previously completed offerings. However, given that (i) it is uncertain whether the CSRC Draft Rules will take effect as currently drafted, and (ii) PRC governmental authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory provisions and there remains significant uncertainty in the interpretation and enforcement of the CSRC Draft Rules, we cannot assure you that we will not be required to comply with the filing requirements under the CSRC Draft Rules if the CSRC Draft Rules are adopted into law in the future or if the PRC regulatory authorities take a position contrary to ours. If we are required to comply with the filing requirements under the CSRC Draft Rules, it is uncertain whether we could complete such filing procedures on a timely manner, if at all.
Additionally, on December 28, 2021, the Chinese government promulgated amended Cybersecurity Review Measures (the “2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures”), which came into effect on February 15, 2022.
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According to the 2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures, (i) critical information infrastructure operators (“CIIOs”) that purchase network products and services and internet platform operators that conduct data processing activities shall be subject to cybersecurity review in accordance with the 2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures if such activities affect or may affect national security; and (ii) internet platform operators holding personal information of more than one million users and seeking to have their securities list on a stock exchange in a foreign country shall file for cybersecurity review with the Cybersecurity Review Office. The 2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures remain unclear on whether the relevant requirements will be applicable to the follow-on offerings of companies that have completed initial public offerings on overseas stock exchanges. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not been informed by any PRC government agency that we qualify as a CIIO or internet platform operator, and we are not in possession of more than one million users’ personal information. Further, we have not been involved in any cybersecurity-related investigation initiated by the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) or any other PRC government authority, and have not received any cybersecurity-related warning or sanction from the PRC government authorities, or any notice from relevant authorities requesting that we file for the cybersecurity review. Therefore, based on the advice of Han Kun Law Offices, we are of the view that we are unlikely to be subject to such ex-ante cybersecurity review arising from the contemplated offering or offerings. The CAC, however, has the discretion to initiate cybersecurity review on data processing activities which are deemed to affect or may affect national security. Thus, we cannot preclude the possibility that we would be subject to ex officio cybersecurity reviews by the CAC, and it is uncertain whether being listed in the United States would increase such possibility. If we are subject to such cybersecurity review, we may be ordered to suspend business or discontinue the development of new product candidates or business partnerships, among other things, pending completion of the review. If we fail to pass the cybersecurity review, we may face penalties such as fines, suspension of business, closure of websites, or revocation of relevant business licenses and permits, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. See “Risk Factors — Compliance with the PRC’s new Data Security Law, Cybersecurity Review Measures, Personal Information Protection Law, regulations and guidelines relating to the multi-level protection scheme and any other future laws and regulations may entail significant expenses and could materially affect our business.”
Our PRC subsidiaries have obtained all necessary licenses and approvals to conduct our operations in China and, to date, no application for any such licenses and approvals has been denied. Based on the advice of Han Kun Law Offices, we believe that according to the currently effective PRC laws, regulations and rules as of the date of this prospectus, we and our PRC subsidiaries are not subject to any permission requirements from the CSRC, the CAC or other governmental agency that is required for this offering. However, we cannot assure you that relevant PRC governmental agencies, including the CSRC and CAC, would reach the same conclusion as we do, or such PRC governmental authorities would not promulgate new rules or new interpretation of current rules to require us to obtain the approval of CSRC or other PRC governmental for this offering. If we fail to receive any requisite permission or approval from the CSRC, CAC or other PRC regulatory authorities for this offering or our operations, or the waiver of such permission or approval, in a timely manner, or at all, or inadvertently conclude that such permissions or approvals are not required, or if applicable laws, regulations, or interpretations change and obligate us to obtain such permission or approvals in the future, we may be subject to fines and penalties, suspension or limitations on our business activities in China, revocation of our business licenses, website closure, delay or restrictions on the contribution of the proceeds from this offering into the PRC, or other sanctions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation and prospects. In addition, the CSRC, CAC or other PRC regulatory agencies may also take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, to halt any offering under this prospectus or any future offerings. Consequently, if you engage in market trading or other activities in anticipation of and prior to the settlement and delivery of the securities we are offering, you would be doing so at the risk that the settlement and delivery may not occur.
In addition, in May 2022, we were conclusively identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the HFCAA. Consequently, as early as 2024, our securities will be prohibited from trading on a national exchange or over-the-counter under the HFCAA, if the PCAOB is unable to inspect or fully investigate our
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independent registered public accounting firm located in China for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, and as a result the Nasdaq Global Market may make a determination to delist our securities. The trading prohibition could be accelerated to 2023 if the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act is enacted. Our independent registered public accounting firm that issued the audit report included in our annual report filed with the SEC, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because we have substantial operations within the PRC and the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct full inspections of the work of our independent registered public accounting firm as it relates to those operations without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our independent registered public accounting firm is not currently inspected by the PCAOB. This lack of PCAOB inspections in the PRC prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our independent registered public accounting firm’s audits and its quality control procedures, and our independent registered public accounting firm is therefore subject to the determinations announced by the PCAOB on December 16, 2021. As a result, investors are deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.
Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. Our administration office and agent for service of process in the United States is located at 12265 El Camino Real, Suite 350, San Diego, California 92130. Our principal executive office and PRC research, development and administration facility are located at Science and Technology Park, East R&D Building, 3rd Floor, 6 Beijing West Road, Taicang, Jiangsu, The People’s Republic of China 215400, and its telephone number is +86 512 5357 7866.
Business Overview
We are a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for the treatment of T cell-driven inflammatory diseases. Our core expertise is in the use of functional cellular assays with T cells to screen and discover potent product candidates against immune targets. Our two most advanced clinical-stage programs include highly differentiated product candidates against validated targets. Our lead product candidate, CBP-201, is an antibody designed to target interleukin-4 receptor alpha, or IL-4Ra, which is a validated target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis, or AD, and asthma. The estimated global market for AD was approximately $7.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $12.1 billion by 2025, a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 12.4%. Based on observed results in preclinical studies and clinical trials, CBP-201 has the potential to be differentiated from dupilumab, an antibody that also targets IL-4Ra, which is now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. We recently completed a Phase 2b trial of CBP-201 in the United States, Australia and New Zealand in adult patients with moderate-to-severe AD, in which primary and key secondary endpoints were met, and plan to initiate a global Phase 3 program in adult patients with moderate-to-severe AD in the second half of 2022. We are also currently conducting a Phase 2b trial evaluating CBP-201 in Type 2 inflammatory asthma, and a pivotal trial in moderate-to-severe AD patients in the PRC. Furthermore, we are developing CBP-307, a modulator of a T cell receptor known as sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1, or S1P1, for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD.
Our immune modulator product candidates originate from our approach to drug discovery based on using biologically relevant functional cellular assays to conduct primary drug screens instead of high-throughput biochemical assays. The clinical and preclinical results we have observed for our product candidates support the potential for this physiologically relevant methodology to yield highly differentiated solutions, in a more efficient manner. Our approach is agnostic to drug modalities and has been used to identify both small molecule and antibody product candidates.
We are advancing CBP-201, an investigational anti-IL-4Ra antibody, for the treatment of inflammatory allergic diseases such as AD and asthma. Inhibition of IL-4Ra blocks the action of two inflammatory cytokines: interleukin- 4, or IL-4, and interleukin-13, or IL-13. In a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 1a trial in healthy volunteers, administration of a single dose of CBP-201 was well-tolerated and led to suppression of a serum
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biomarker of inflammation. In a randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial in adult AD patients, we observed significant improvements in primary and key secondary endpoints on skin clearance, disease severity, and itch, and CBP-201 was generally well-tolerated. Although no head-to-head trials have been conducted, we believe that CBP-201 has two potential advantages over the current standard of care: (1) in preclinical studies CBP-201 bound to a region of IL-4Ra that is distinct from that bound by dupilumab and associated with high binding affinity and potency for IL-4Ra, which we believe may lead to improved clinical response; and (2) a more convenient proposed dosing regimen in adult patients with moderate to severe AD, as evidenced by our Phase 2b trial data showing positive results with our Q4W (300 mg dose every four weeks) results, which is a less frequent dosing schedule than the Q2W (300 mg dose every two weeks) dose for duplimab for adult patients with moderate to severe AD.
CBP-307 is an investigational, small molecule modulator of S1P1, a regulator of T cell mobilization out of lymph nodes into the periphery. Inhibiting S1P1 leads to reduction in the levels of these T cells in circulation and a reduction in autoimmune-related inflammation. S1P1 is a validated therapeutic target with three drugs approved to treat multiple sclerosis: fingolimod, marketed as Gilenya® by Novartis, siponimod, marketed as Mayzent® by Novartis, and ozanimod, marketed as Zeposia®, by Bristol Myers Squibb. Evidence from third-party clinical trials suggests that the potential of S1P1 modulators is far broader than multiple sclerosis and includes highly prevalent diseases with unmet need such as UC and CD, and Zeposia received approval for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active UC from the FDA and EMA in 2021. The estimated global market for UC was approximately $5.4 billion in 2021, and the estimated global market for CD was approximately $5.4 billion in 2020. We believe that CBP-307 is well-positioned to potentially address these diseases due to the potency, specificity and pharmacokinetics observed in our preclinical studies and early clinical trials. We announced top-line results from our Phase 2 trial in UC in May 2022, and we intend to engage in partnership discussions for the future development of CBP-307 to focus resources on our lead program, CBP-201.
We are developing CBP-174, a peripherally acting, small molecule H3R antagonist, for oral administration to treat chronic itch associated with skin inflammation. We have exclusively licensed global rights to CBP-174 from Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Arena, to complement our CBP-201 program in AD. We believe that the ability to quickly alleviate itch in the setting of AD has the potential to complement the anti-pruritic effect of disease-modifying IL-4Ra antagonists such as our CBP-201 product candidate or dupilumab. In clinical trials, these IL-4Ra targeted products required weeks of treatment for many AD patients to obtain significant relief of itching, or pruritus. Our preclinical mouse model study has indicated that CBP-174 led to reductions in scratching within the first 30 minutes of dosing, which could potentially translate to rapid reduction in pruritus in the clinic. We expect to complete our Phase 1 dose escalation study with CBP-174 in healthy adults in the second half of 2022 and anticipate reporting top-line results in the second half of 2022.
We are building a rich pipeline of internally designed, wholly owned small molecules and antibodies targeting other aspects of T cell biology.
We are a global company with clinical development activities in the United States, the PRC, Europe, and Australia and operations in those geographies as well as Hong Kong. We intend to continue recruiting top talent and operating in these geographies for the foreseeable future.
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Organizational Structure
The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure as of the date of this prospectus:
The following table illustrates the principal activities and percentage equity interest as of December 31, 2020 and 2021 for each of our subsidiaries:
| As of December 31, | ||||||||
| Name |
Principal activities |
Jurisdiction of |
2020 | 2021 | ||||
| Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited |
Investment holding | Hong Kong | 100% | 100% | ||||
| Connect Biopharm LLC |
Pharmaceutical R&D | U.S. | 100% | 100% | ||||
| Connect Biopharma Australia PTY LTD |
Pharmaceutical R&D | Australia | 100% | 100% | ||||
| Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd. |
Pharmaceutical R&D | PRC | 100% | 100% | ||||
| Connect Biopharma (Shanghai) Co., Ltd |
Pharmaceutical R&D | PRC | 100% | 100% | ||||
| Connect Biopharma (Beijing) Co., Ltd |
Pharmaceutical R&D | PRC | 100% | 100% | ||||
| Connect Biopharma (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd |
Dormant | PRC | — % | 100% | ||||
The Company was formed to acquire Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited. As the sole holder of equity in Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited, the Company operates the business and controls the strategic decisions and day-to-day operations of Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited. We have seven wholly owned subsidiaries.
Cash Transfer and Dividend Payment
We are a holding company that conducts its operations primarily through our various subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to pay dividends depends upon dividends paid to us by our subsidiaries. If our existing subsidiaries or any newly formed subsidiaries of our company incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, our PRC subsidiaries are permitted to pay dividends to us only out of their retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Under the PRC law, each of our PRC subsidiaries, and their subsidiaries are required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund specific statutory reserve funds until such reserve funds reach 50% of its registered capital. In addition, each of our PRC subsidiaries may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to staff welfare and bonus funds, a discretionary surplus fund and an enterprise expansion fund at its discretion or in accordance with its articles of association. These reserve funds and staff welfare and bonus funds are not distributable as cash dividends. Remittance of dividends by a wholly foreign-owned company out of the PRC is
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subject to examination by the banks designated by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE. Our PRC subsidiaries have not paid dividends and will not be able to pay dividends until they generate accumulated profits and meet the requirements for statutory reserve funds. As of December 31, 2021, the amount restricted, including paid-in capital, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations, was RMB 288.9 million.
Our cash is initially held at Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited bank accounts, and then it is used to fund the cash requirements of our operating subsidiaries. Internal cash transfers are approved by finance management team members prior to transfer. Our other cash management policies include a treasury policy that requires executive team approvals to open and close bank accounts, a purchase approval policy that provides approval limits based on job level, and an investment policy that provides guidelines on investments in financial securities.
Under PRC laws and regulations, there are restrictions on the Company’s PRC subsidiaries with respect to transferring some of their net assets to the Company either in the form of dividends, loans, or advances. Restricted net assets including paid-in capital and statutory reserve funds of the Company’s PRC subsidiaries was RMB 137.7 million as of December 31, 2020 and RMB 288.9 million as of December 31, 2021.
The following table summarizes the cash transferred from our holding company to our operating subsidiaries:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2021 | ||||||||||
| RMB’000 | RMB’000 | USD’000 (1) | ||||||||||
| Cash Flow from Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited to: |
||||||||||||
| Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited |
202,497 | 672,529 | 105,483 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Total cash transferred to operating subsidiaries |
202,497 | 672,529 | 105,483 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited to: |
||||||||||||
| Connect Biopharm LLC |
83,981 | 309,287 | 48, 510 | |||||||||
| Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd. |
134,521 | 356,218 | 55, 871 | |||||||||
| Connect Biopharma Australia PTY LTD |
30,017 | — | — | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Total cash transferred to operating subsidiaries |
248,519 | 665,505 | 104,381 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| (1) | USD1.00 = RMB6.3757. |
The amounts funded from Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd to other PRC subsidiaries were insignificant. There were no distributions, dividends or any other transfers out from any of the PRC entities to any of our entities outside of the PRC.
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our ADSs is subject to a number of risks, including risks related to doing business in the PRC, risks related to our limited operating history, financial position and capital requirements, risks related to the discovery, development and regulatory approval of our product candidates, risks related to our reliance on third parties, risks related to commercialization of our product candidates, risks related to our business operations and industry, risks related to intellectual property, and risks related to ownership of our ADSs. Investors should carefully consider all of the information in this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference herein and any accompanying prospectus supplement before making an investment in the ADSs. The following list summarizes some, but not all, of these risks. Please read the information in the section entitled “Risk Factors” for a more thorough description of these and other risks.
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Risks Related to Doing Business in the PRC
| • | We could be adversely affected by rising political tensions and any potential conflicts between the United States and the PRC. |
| • | Changes in the political and economic policies of the PRC government may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and may result in our inability to sustain our growth and expansion strategies. |
| • | The PRC government may intervene in or influence our operations at any time, which could result in a material change in our operations and significantly and adversely impact the value of our ADSs. |
| • | In May 2022, we were conclusively identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the HFCAA. Consequently, as early as 2024, our ADSs will be delisted and our ADSs and shares prohibited from trading in the over-the-counter market under the HFCAA, if the PCAOB is unable to inspect or fully investigate our independent registered public accounting firm for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, and as a result the Nasdaq Global Market may make a determination to delist our securities. The trading prohibition could be accelerated to 2023 if the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act is enacted. |
| • | There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws, rules and regulations. |
| • | PRC government agencies may exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and non-PRC investment in PRC-based issuers. We face uncertainty about future actions by the PRC government that could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of our ADSs to significantly decline or be worthless. |
| • | Recent litigation, regulatory scrutiny and negative publicity surrounding PRC-based companies listed in the United States may result in increased regulatory scrutiny of us and negatively impact the trading price of our ADSs. |
| • | Our business benefits from financial incentives and discretionary policies granted by local governments in the PRC. Expiration, elimination or reduction of these incentives or policies would have an adverse effect on our results of operations. |
| • | We may be restricted from transferring our scientific data outside of the PRC. |
| • | Additional remedial measures could be imposed on PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings instituted by the SEC, as a result of which our consolidated financial statements may be determined to not be in compliance with SEC requirements |
| • | Investors may experience difficulties in effecting service of legal process, enforcing non-PRC judgments or bringing original actions in the PRC against our directors and officers who are located in the PRC. |
Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Position and Capital Requirements
| • | We have a limited operating history, have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We may never generate any revenue or become profitable or, if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain it. |
| • | We will require substantial additional financing to achieve our goals. |
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Risks Related to the Discovery, Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates
| • | Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process, with an uncertain outcome. We may ultimately be unable to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates. |
| • | We depend on enrollment of patients in our clinical trials for our product candidates and may experience delays or difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials. |
| • | We have conducted and may continue to conduct clinical trials for our product candidates in sites outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in foreign locations. |
| • | Our approach to the discovery and development of product candidates is unproven, and we do not know whether we will be able to develop any products of commercial value. |
| • | We have never conducted later-stage clinical trials or submitted a New Drug Application, or NDA, or Biologics License Application, or BLA, and may be unable to do so for any of our product candidates. |
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
| • | We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties, including independent clinical investigators and contract research organizations, to conduct some aspects of our preclinical studies and clinical trials. |
| • | We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical studies and our ongoing clinical trials. |
Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Product Candidates
| • | The commercial success of our product candidates will depend upon the degree of market acceptance of such product candidates by physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community. |
Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Industry
| • | We are subject to risks arising from COVID-19 and other epidemic diseases. |
| • | We are dependent on the services of our management and other clinical and scientific personnel, and if we are not able to retain these individuals or recruit additional management or clinical and scientific personnel, our business will suffer. |
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
| • | Our success depends on our ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies. |
Risks Related to Ownership of Our ADSs
| • | An active, liquid trading market for the ADSs may not be maintained, and you may not be able to resell your ADSs at or above the public offering price. |
| • | The trading price of our ADSs could be highly volatile, and purchasers of the ADSs could incur substantial losses. |
| • | We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. |
| • | We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders of our ADSs. |
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Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and a Foreign Private Issuer
Emerging Growth Company
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we may take advantage of specific exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other publicly traded entities that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include:
| • | not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; |
| • | not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (i.e., an auditor discussion and analysis); |
| • | not being required to submit some executive compensation matters to shareholder advisory votes, such as “say-on-pay,” “say-on-frequency” and “say-on-golden parachutes;” and |
| • | not being required to disclose some executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the chief executive officer’s compensation to median employee compensation. |
As a result, we do not know if some investors will find our ADSs less attractive. The result may be a less active trading market for our ADSs, and the price of our ADSs may become more volatile.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of: (i) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our annual gross revenues exceed $1.07 billion; (ii) December 31, 2026; (iii) the date that we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter; or (iv) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt securities during any three-year period.
Foreign Private Issuer
We report under the Exchange Act as a non-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, as long as we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we will be exempt from specific provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. domestic public companies, including:
| • | the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; |
| • | the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and |
| • | the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specific information, or current reports on Form 8-K, upon the occurrence of specified significant events. |
In addition, we will not be required to file annual reports and consolidated financial statements with the SEC as promptly as U.S. domestic companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act, and we will not be required to comply with Regulation FD, which restricts the selective disclosure of material information.
Both foreign private issuers and emerging growth companies also are exempt from some more stringent executive compensation disclosure rules. Thus, even if we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, but remain a foreign private issuer, we will continue to be exempt from the more stringent compensation disclosures required of companies that are neither an emerging growth company nor a foreign private issuer.
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We may take advantage of these exemptions until such time as we are no longer a foreign private issuer. We will remain a foreign private issuer until such time that more than 50% of our outstanding voting securities are held by U.S. residents and any of the following three circumstances applies: (1) the majority of our executive officers or directors are U.S. citizens or residents; (2) more than 50% of our assets are located in the United States; or (3) our business is administered principally in the United States.
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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference herein and any accompanying prospectus supplement may contain or incorporate forward-looking statements that are based on our management’s belief and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements stated in or implied by these forward-looking statements.
All statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made under the “safe harbor” provision under Section 27A of the Securities Act and 21E of the Exchange Act and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” or “would” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements are only predictions. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could materially affect results. You should refer to the “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, and our annual reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K filed with the SEC for specific risks that could cause actual results to be significantly different from those stated in or implied by these forward-looking statements. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual events or results may vary significantly from those implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should read this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed with the SEC as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from any future results stated in or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements in this prospectus include, but are not limited to, statements about:
| • | the ability of our clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy of our product candidates, and other positive results; |
| • | the timing, progress, focus, and results of our ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, and the reporting and interpretation of data from those studies and trials; |
| • | our plans relating to commercializing our product candidates, if approved, including the geographic areas of focus and sales strategy; |
| • | the market opportunity and competitive landscape for our product candidates, including our estimates of the number of patients who suffer from the diseases we are targeting; |
| • | the success of competing therapies that are or may become available; |
| • | our estimates of the number and types of patients that we will enroll in our clinical trials; |
| • | the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy and therapeutic effects of our product candidates; |
| • | the timing of initiation and completion, and the progress of our drug discovery and research programs; |
| • | the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals for our product candidates for various diseases; |
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| • | our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates; |
| • | our plans relating to the further development of our product candidates, including additional indications we may pursue; |
| • | existing regulations and regulatory developments in the United States, the PRC, Europe and other jurisdictions; |
| • | risks associated with COVID-19 and other epidemic diseases, which have and may continue to materially and adversely impact our business, preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
| • | our plans and ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property rights and our proprietary technologies, including extensions of existing patent terms where available; |
| • | our continued reliance on third parties to conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates, and for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
| • | our plans regarding, and our ability to enter into, and negotiate favorable terms of, any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements that may be necessary or desirable to develop, manufacture or commercialize our product candidates; |
| • | the need to hire additional personnel and our ability to attract and retain such personnel; |
| • | our plans regarding our growth and expanding our operations, including with respect to expanding our senior management team and constructing facilities; |
| • | our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; |
| • | our financial performance; |
| • | the period over which we estimate our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements; |
| • | our expectations regarding the period during which we will qualify as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act; and |
| • | our anticipated use of our existing resources. |
The “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, and our annual reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K filed with the SEC references the principal contingencies and uncertainties to which we believe we are subject, which should be considered in evaluating any forward-looking statements contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or in any prospectus supplement.
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Investing in our securities involves risks. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks described under “Risk Factors” in the applicable prospectus supplement and in our most recent annual report on Form 20-F, and in our updates, if any, to those risk factors in our reports of foreign private issuer on Form 6-K, together with all of the other information appearing in this prospectus or incorporated by reference into this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement, in light of your particular investment objectives and financial circumstances. In addition to those risk factors, there may be additional risks and uncertainties of which management is not aware or focused on or that management deems immaterial. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. The trading price of our securities could decline due to any of these risks, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
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OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE
We may, from time to time pursuant to this prospectus (as may be detailed in a prospectus supplement), offer and sell, in one or more offerings, up to $300,000,000 of our ADSs, each representing one ordinary share, par value $0.000174 per share. The price per ADS offered will depend on a number of factors that may be relevant at the time of offer. See “Plan of Distribution.”
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Our management will have broad discretion over the use of the net proceeds from the sale of our ADSs pursuant to this prospectus, both in terms of the purposes for which they will be used and the amounts that will be allocated for each purpose. We intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of any securities offered under this prospectus for funding our research and development, pre-commercialization activities and for general corporate purposes, unless otherwise indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus. General corporate purposes may include the acquisition of companies or businesses, repayment and refinancing of debt, working capital, clinical trial expenditures, commercial expenditures and capital expenditures. We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus our intended use for the net proceeds received from the sale of any securities sold pursuant to the prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus.
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We are a Cayman Islands exempted company incorporated with limited liability and our affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, as amended from time to time, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, which we refer to as the Companies Act below and the common law of the Cayman Islands.
As of the date of this prospectus, our authorized share capital is $76,560, divided into 440,000,000 shares comprised of (i) 400,000,000 ordinary shares, par value $0.000174 per share, and (ii) 40,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.000174 per share, of such class or classes (however designated) as the board of directors may determine in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. As of the date of this prospectus, 55,015,779 ordinary shares were issued and outstanding. All of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares are fully paid.
Our Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
The following are summaries of material provisions of our current amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that became effective immediately prior to the completion of our initial public offering, or IPO, in March 2021, insofar as they relate to the material terms of our ordinary shares.
Objects of Our Company
Under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the objects of our company are unrestricted and we have the full power and authority to carry out any object not prohibited by the law of the Cayman Islands.
Ordinary Shares
Our ordinary shares are issued in registered form and are issued when registered in our register of members (shareholders). We may not issue shares to bearer. Our shareholders who are nonresidents of the Cayman Islands may freely hold and vote their shares. Each ordinary share shall entitle the holder thereof to one vote on all matters subject to vote at our general meetings.
Dividends
The holders of our ordinary shares are entitled to such dividends as may be declared by our board of directors. In addition, our shareholders may declare dividends by ordinary resolution, but no dividend shall exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Our amended and restated memorandum and restated articles of association provide that our directors may, before recommending or declaring any dividend, set aside out of the funds legally available for distribution such sums as they think proper as a reserve or reserves which shall, in the absolute discretion of the directors, be applicable for meeting contingencies or for equalizing dividends or for any other purpose to which those funds may be properly applied. Under the laws of the Cayman Islands, our company may pay a dividend out of either profit or our share premium account, provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in our company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business.
Voting Rights
Each ordinary share shall be entitled to one vote on all matters subject to a vote at general meetings of our company. Voting at any shareholders’ meeting is by show of hands unless a poll is demanded (before or on the declaration of the result of the show of hands). A poll may be demanded by the chairman of such meeting or by any one or more shareholders who together hold not less than 10% of the votes attaching to the total number of ordinary shares which are present in person or by proxy at the meeting.
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An ordinary resolution to be passed at a meeting by the shareholders requires the affirmative vote of a simple majority of the votes attaching to the ordinary shares which are cast at a meeting, while a special resolution requires the affirmative vote of no less than two-thirds of the votes attaching to the ordinary shares which are cast at a meeting. A special resolution will be required for important matters such as a change of name or making changes to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our company may, among other things, divide or combine our ordinary shares, by an ordinary resolution of our shareholders.
General Meetings of Shareholders
As a Cayman Islands exempted company, we are not obliged by the Companies Act to call shareholders’ annual general meetings. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we may (but are not obliged to) in each year hold a general meeting as our annual general meeting in which case we shall specify the meeting as such in the notices calling it, and the annual general meeting shall be held at such time and place as may be determined by our directors.
Shareholders’ general meetings may be convened by the chairman of our board of directors or by a majority of our directors (acting by a resolution of the board). Advance notice of at least ten calendar days is required for the convening of our annual general shareholders’ meeting (if any) and any other general meeting of our shareholders. A quorum required for any general meeting of shareholders consists of one or more shareholders present in person or by proxy, holding shares which carry in aggregate not less than one-third of all votes attaching to all of our shares in issue and entitled to vote at such general meeting.
The Companies Act provides shareholders with only limited rights to requisition a general meeting, and does not provide shareholders with any right to put any proposal before a general meeting. However, these rights may be provided in a company’s articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that upon the requisition of shareholders holding shares which carry in aggregate not less than one-third of the votes attaching to the issued and outstanding shares of our company entitled to vote at general meetings, our board will convene an extraordinary general meeting and put the resolutions so requisitioned to a vote at such meeting. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association do not provide our shareholders with any right to put any proposals before annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings not called by such shareholders.
Transfer of Ordinary Shares
Subject to the restrictions set out below, any of our shareholders may transfer all or any of his or her ordinary shares by an instrument of transfer in the usual or common form or any other form approved by our board of directors.
Our board of directors may, in its absolute discretion, decline to register any transfer of any ordinary share which is not fully paid up or on which we have a lien. Our board of directors may also decline to register any transfer of any ordinary share unless:
| • | the instrument of transfer is lodged with us, accompanied by the certificate for the ordinary shares to which it relates and such other evidence as our board of directors may reasonably require to show the right of the transferor to make the transfer; |
| • | the instrument of transfer is in respect of only one class of ordinary shares; |
| • | the instrument of transfer is properly stamped, if required; |
| • | in the case of a transfer to joint holders, the number of joint holders to whom the ordinary share is to be transferred does not exceed four; and |
| • | a fee of such maximum sum as the Nasdaq Global Market may determine to be payable or such lesser sum as our directors may from time to time require is paid to us in respect thereof. |
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If our directors refuse to register a transfer they shall, within three months after the date on which the instrument of transfer was lodged, send to each of the transferor and the transferee notice of such refusal.
The registration of transfers may, after compliance with any notice required of the Nasdaq Global Market, be suspended and the register closed at such times and for such periods as our board of directors may from time to time determine, provided, however, that the registration of transfers shall not be suspended nor the register closed for more than 30 calendar days in any calendar year.
Liquidation
On the winding up of our company, if the assets available for distribution amongst our shareholders shall be more than sufficient to repay the whole of the share capital at the commencement of the winding up, the surplus shall be distributed amongst our shareholders in proportion to the par value of the shares held by them at the commencement of the winding up, subject to a deduction from those shares in respect of which there are monies due, of all monies payable to our company for unpaid calls or otherwise. If our assets available for distribution are insufficient to repay the whole of the share capital, the assets will be distributed so that the losses are borne by our shareholders in proportion to the par value of the shares held by them.
Calls on Shares and Forfeiture of Shares
Our board of directors may from time to time make calls upon shareholders for any amounts unpaid on their shares in a notice served to such shareholders at least 14 days prior to the specified time and place of payment. The shares that have been called upon and remain unpaid are subject to forfeiture.
Redemption, Repurchase and Surrender of Shares
We may issue shares on terms that such shares are subject to redemption, at our option or at the option of the holders of these shares, on such terms and in such manner as may be determined by our board of directors. Our company may also repurchase any of our shares on such terms and in such manner as have been approved by our board of directors or by an ordinary resolution of our shareholders. Under the Companies Act, the redemption or repurchase of any share may be paid out of our profits or out of the proceeds of a new issue of shares made for the purpose of such redemption or repurchase, or out of capital (including share premium account and capital redemption reserve) if our company can, immediately following such payment, pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. In addition, under the Companies Act no such share may be redeemed or repurchased (a) unless it is fully paid up, (b) if such redemption or repurchase would result in there being no shares outstanding or (c) if our company has commenced liquidation. In addition, our company may accept the surrender of any fully paid share for no consideration.
Variations of Rights of Shares
If at any time, our share capital is divided into different classes or series of shares, the rights attached to any class or series of shares (unless otherwise provided by the terms of issue of the shares of that class or series), whether or not our company is being wound-up, may be varied with the consent in writing of the holders of two-thirds of the issued shares of that class or series or with the sanction of a special resolution passed at a separate meeting of the holders of the shares of that class or series. The rights conferred upon the holders of the shares of any class issued with preferred or other rights shall not, subject to any rights or restrictions for the time being attached to the shares of that class, be deemed to be varied by the creation, allotment or issue of further shares ranking pari passu with or subsequent to such existing class of shares or the redemption or purchase of any shares of any class by our company. The rights of the holders of shares shall not be deemed to be materially adversely varied by the creation or issue of shares with preferred or other rights including, without limitation, the creation of shares with enhanced or weighted voting rights.
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Issuance of Additional Shares
Our amended and restated memorandum of association authorizes our board of directors to issue additional ordinary shares from time to time as our board of directors shall determine, to the extent of available authorized but unissued shares.
Our amended and restated memorandum of association also authorizes our board of directors to establish from time to time one or more series of preference shares and to determine, with respect to any series of preference shares, the terms and rights of that series, including:
| • | the designation of the series; |
| • | the number of shares of the series; |
| • | the dividend rights, dividend rates, conversion rights, voting rights; and |
| • | the rights and terms of redemption and liquidation preferences. |
Our board of directors may issue preference shares without action by our shareholders to the extent authorized but unissued. Issuance of these shares may dilute the voting power of holders of ordinary shares.
Inspection of Books and Records
Holders of our ordinary shares have no general right under Cayman Islands law to inspect or obtain copies of our list of shareholders or our corporate records (except for the memorandum and articles of association, special resolutions which have been passed by our shareholders, our register of mortgages and charges and a list of our current directors). However, we will provide our shareholders with annual audited consolidated financial statements. See “Where You Can Find More Information.”
Anti-Takeover Provisions
Some provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or management that shareholders may consider favorable, including provisions that:
| • | authorize our board of directors to issue preference shares in one or more series and to designate the price, rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of such preference shares without any further vote or action by our shareholders; and |
| • | limit the ability of shareholders to requisition and convene general meetings of shareholders. |
However, under Cayman Islands law, our directors may only exercise the rights and powers granted to them under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association for a proper purpose and for what they believe in good faith to be in the best interests of our company.
Exempted Company
We are an exempted company with limited liability under the Companies Act. The Companies Act distinguishes between ordinary resident companies and exempted companies. Any company that is registered in the Cayman Islands but conducts business mainly outside of the Cayman Islands may apply to be registered as an exempted company. The requirements for an exempted company are essentially the same as for an ordinary company except that an exempted company:
| • | does not have to file an annual return of its shareholders with the Registrar of Companies; |
| • | the statutory provisions as to the required majority vote have been met; |
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| • | is not required to open its register of members for inspection; |
| • | does not have to hold an annual general meeting; |
| • | may issue shares with no par value; |
| • | may obtain an undertaking against the imposition of any future taxation (such undertakings are usually given for 20 years in the first instance); |
| • | may register by way of continuation in another jurisdiction and be deregistered in the Cayman Islands; |
| • | may register as a limited duration company; and |
| • | may register as a segregated portfolio company. |
“Limited liability” means that the liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount unpaid by the shareholder on the shares of the company (except in exceptional circumstances, such as involving fraud, the establishment of an agency relationship or an illegal or improper purpose or other circumstances in which a court may be prepared to pierce or lift the corporate veil).
Differences in Corporate Law
The Companies Act of the Cayman Island is derived, to a large extent, from the older Companies Acts of England but does not follow recent English statutory enactments and accordingly there are significant differences between the Companies Act of the Cayman Island and the current Companies Act of England. In addition, the Companies Act differs from laws applicable to U.S. corporations and their shareholders. Set forth below is a summary of certain significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders.
Mergers and Similar Arrangements
The Companies Act permits mergers and consolidations between Cayman Islands companies and between Cayman Islands companies and non-Cayman Islands companies. For these purposes, (i) “merger” means the merging of two or more constituent companies and the vesting of their undertaking, property and liabilities in one of such companies as the surviving company, and (ii) a “consolidation” means the combination of two or more constituent companies into a consolidated company and the vesting of the undertaking, property and liabilities of such companies to the consolidated company. In order to effect such a merger or consolidation, the directors of each constituent company must approve a written plan of merger or consolidation, which must then be authorized by (a) a special resolution of the shareholders of each constituent company, and (b) such other authorization, if any, as may be specified in such constituent company’s articles of association. The written plan of merger or consolidation must be filed with the Registrar of Companies of the Cayman Islands together with a declaration as to the solvency of the consolidated or surviving company, a list of the assets and liabilities of each constituent company and an undertaking that a copy of the certificate of merger or consolidation will be given to the members and creditors of each constituent company and that notification of the merger or consolidation will be published in the Cayman Islands Gazette. Court approval is not required for a merger or consolidation which is effected in compliance with these statutory procedures.
A merger between a Cayman parent company and its Cayman subsidiary or subsidiaries does not require authorization by a resolution of shareholders of that Cayman subsidiary if a copy of the plan of merger is given to every member of that Cayman subsidiary to be merged unless that member agrees otherwise. For this purpose, a company is a “parent” of a subsidiary if it holds issued shares that together represent at least ninety percent (90%) of the votes at a general meeting of the subsidiary.
The consent of each holder of a fixed or floating security interest over a constituent company is required unless this requirement is waived by a court in the Cayman Islands.
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Save in some limited circumstances, a shareholder of a Cayman constituent company who dissents from the merger or consolidation is entitled to payment of the fair value of his shares (which, if not agreed between the parties, will be determined by the Cayman Islands court) upon dissenting to the merger or consolidation, provide the dissenting shareholder complies strictly with the procedures set out in the Companies Act. The exercise of dissenter rights will preclude the exercise by the dissenting shareholder of any other rights to which he or she might otherwise be entitled by virtue of holding shares, save for the right to seek relief on the grounds that the merger or consolidation is void or unlawful.
Separate from the statutory provisions relating to mergers and consolidations, the Companies Act also contains statutory provisions that facilitate the reconstruction and amalgamation of companies by way of schemes of arrangement, provided that the arrangement is approved by a majority in number of each class of shareholders and creditors with whom the arrangement is to be made, and who must in addition represent three-fourths in value of each such class of shareholders or creditors, as the case may be, that are present and voting either in person or by proxy at a meeting, or meetings, convened for that purpose. The convening of the meetings and subsequently the arrangement must be sanctioned by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. While a dissenting shareholder has the right to express to the court the view that the transaction ought not to be approved, the court can be expected to approve the arrangement if it determines that:
| • | the statutory provisions as to the required majority vote have been met; |
| • | the shareholders have been fairly represented at the meeting in question and the statutory majority are acting bona fide without coercion of the minority to promote interests adverse to those of the class; |
| • | the arrangement is such that may be reasonably approved by an intelligent and honest man of that class acting in respect of his interest; and |
| • | the arrangement is not one that would more properly be sanctioned under some other provision of the Companies Act. |
The Companies Act also contains a statutory power of compulsory acquisition which may facilitate the “squeeze out” of dissentient minority shareholders upon a tender offer. When a tender offer is made and accepted by holders of 90.0% of the shares affected within four months, the offeror may, within a two-month period commencing on the expiration of such four month period, require the holders of the remaining shares to transfer such shares to the offeror on the terms of the offer. An objection can be made to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands but this is unlikely to succeed in the case of an offer which has been so approved unless there is evidence of fraud, bad faith or collusion.
If an arrangement and reconstruction by way of scheme of arrangement is thus approved and sanctioned, or if a tender offer is made and accepted, a dissenting shareholder would have no rights comparable to appraisal rights, which would otherwise ordinarily be available to dissenting shareholders of Delaware corporations, providing rights to receive payment in cash for the judicially determined value of the shares.
Shareholders’ Suits
In principle, we will normally be the proper plaintiff to sue for a wrong done to us as a company, and as a general rule a derivative action may not be brought by a minority shareholder. However, based on English authorities, which would in all likelihood be of persuasive authority in the Cayman Islands, the Cayman Islands court can be expected to follow and apply the common law principles (namely the rule in Foss v. Harbottle and the exceptions thereto) so that a non-controlling shareholder may be permitted to commence a class action against or derivative actions in the name of the company to challenge actions where:
| • | the act complained of, although not ultra vires, could only be effected duly if authorized by more than a simple majority vote that has not been obtained; and |
| • | those who control the company are perpetrating a “fraud on the minority.” |
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Indemnification of Directors and Executive Officers and Limitation of Liability
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we shall indemnify our officers and directors against all actions, proceedings, costs, charges, expenses, losses, damages or liabilities incurred or sustained by such directors or officer, other than by reason of such person’s dishonesty, willful default or fraud, in or about the conduct of our company’s business or affairs (including as a result of any mistake of judgment) or in the execution or discharge of his or her duties, powers, authorities or discretions, including without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any costs, expenses, losses or liabilities incurred by such director or officer in defending (whether successfully or otherwise) any civil proceedings concerning our company or its affairs in any court whether in the Cayman Islands or elsewhere. This standard of conduct is generally the same as permitted under the Delaware General Corporation Law for a Delaware corporation.
In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and specific executive officers that provide such persons with additional indemnification beyond that provided in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers or persons controlling us under the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
Directors’ Fiduciary Duties
Under Delaware corporate law, a director of a Delaware corporation has a fiduciary duty to the corporation and its shareholders. This duty has two components: the duty of care and the duty of loyalty. The duty of care requires that a director act in good faith, with the care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise under similar circumstances. Under this duty, a director must inform himself of, and disclose to shareholders, all material information reasonably available regarding a significant transaction. The duty of loyalty requires that a director acts in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation. He or she must not use their corporate position for personal gain or advantage. This duty prohibits self-dealing by a director and mandates that the best interest of the corporation and its shareholders take precedence over any interest possessed by a director, officer or controlling shareholder and not shared by the shareholders generally. In general, actions of a director are presumed to have been made on an informed basis, in good faith and in the honest belief that the action taken was in the best interests of the corporation. However, this presumption may be rebutted by evidence of a breach of one of the fiduciary duties. Should such evidence be presented concerning a transaction by a director, the director must prove the procedural fairness of the transaction, and that the transaction was of fair value to the corporation.
As a matter of Cayman Islands law, a director of a Cayman Islands company is in the position of a fiduciary with respect to the company and therefore it is considered that he or she owes the following duties to the company—a duty to act bona fide in the best interests of the company, a duty not to make a profit based on his or her position as director (unless the company permits them to do so), a duty not to put himself or herself in a position where the interests of the company conflict with his or personal interest or his duty to a third party, and a duty to exercise powers for the purpose for which such powers were intended. A director of a Cayman Islands company owes to the company a duty to act with skill and care. It was previously considered that a director need not exhibit in the performance of his or her duties a greater degree of skill than may reasonably be expected from a person of his knowledge and experience. However, English and Commonwealth courts have moved towards an objective standard with regard to the required skill and care and these authorities are likely to be followed in the Cayman Islands.
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Shareholder Action by Written Resolution
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation may eliminate the right of shareholders to act by written consent by amendment to its certificate of incorporation. Cayman Islands law and our amended and restated articles of association provide that our shareholders may approve corporate matters by way of a unanimous written resolution signed by or on behalf of each shareholder who would have been entitled to vote on such matter at a general meeting without a meeting being held.
Shareholder Proposals
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a shareholder has the right to put any proposal before the annual meeting of shareholders, provided it complies with the notice provisions in the governing documents. A special meeting may be called by the board of directors or any other person authorized to do so in the governing documents, but shareholders may be precluded from calling special meetings.
The Companies Act provides shareholders with only limited rights to requisition a general meeting, and does not provide shareholders with any right to put any proposal before a general meeting. However, these rights may be provided in a company’s articles of association. Our amended and restated articles of association allow our shareholders holding shares which carry in aggregate not less than one-third of all votes attaching to the issued and outstanding shares of our company entitled to vote at general meetings to requisition an extraordinary general meeting of our shareholders, in which case our board is obliged to convene an extraordinary general meeting and to put the resolutions so requisitioned to a vote at such meeting. Other than this right to requisition a shareholders’ meeting, our amended and restated articles of association do not provide our shareholders with any other right to put proposals before annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings. As an exempted Cayman Islands company, we may but are not obliged by law to call shareholders’ annual general meetings.
Cumulative Voting
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, cumulative voting for elections of directors is not permitted unless the corporation’s certificate of incorporation specifically provides for it. Cumulative voting potentially facilitates the representation of minority shareholders on a board of directors since it permits the minority shareholder to cast all the votes to which the shareholder is entitled on a single director, which increases the shareholder’s voting power with respect to electing such director. There are no prohibitions in relation to cumulative voting under the laws of the Cayman Islands but our amended and restated articles of association do not provide for cumulative voting. As a result, our shareholders are not afforded any less protections or rights on this issue than shareholders of a Delaware corporation.
Removal of Directors
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a director of a corporation with a classified board may be removed only for cause with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Under our amended and restated articles of association, directors may be removed with or without cause, by an ordinary resolution of our shareholders. In addition, a director’s office shall be vacated if the director (i) becomes bankrupt or makes any arrangement or composition with his creditors; (ii) is found to be or becomes of unsound mind or dies; (iii) resigns his or her office by notice in writing to the company; (iv) without special leave of absence from our board of directors, is absent from three consecutive meetings of the board and the board resolves that his or her office be vacated; or (v) is removed from office pursuant to any other provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Transactions with Interested Shareholders
The Delaware General Corporation Law contains a business combination statute applicable to Delaware corporations whereby, unless the corporation has specifically elected not to be governed by such statute by
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amendment to its certificate of incorporation, it is prohibited from engaging in various business combinations with an “interested shareholder” for three years following the date that such person becomes an interested shareholder. An interested shareholder generally is a person or a group who or which owns or owned 15% or more of the target’s outstanding voting share within the past three years. This has the effect of limiting the ability of a potential acquirer to make a two-tiered bid for the target in which all shareholders would not be treated equally. The statute does not apply if, among other things, prior to the date on which such shareholder becomes an interested shareholder, the board of directors approves either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the person becoming an interested shareholder. This encourages any potential acquirer of a Delaware corporation to negotiate the terms of any acquisition transaction with the target’s board of directors.
Cayman Islands law has no comparable statute. As a result, we cannot avail ourselves of the types of protections afforded by the Delaware business combination statute. However, although Cayman Islands law does not regulate transactions between a company and its significant shareholders, it does provide that such transactions must be entered into bona fide in the best interests of the company and not with the effect of constituting a fraud on the minority shareholders.
Dissolution; Winding up
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, unless the board of directors approves the proposal to dissolve, dissolution must be approved by shareholders holding 100% of the total voting power of the corporation. Only if the dissolution is initiated by the board of directors may it be approved by a simple majority of the corporation’s outstanding shares. Delaware law allows a Delaware corporation to include in its certificate of incorporation a supermajority voting requirement in connection with dissolutions initiated by the board.
Under Cayman Islands law, a company may be wound up by either an order of the courts of the Cayman Islands or by a special resolution of its members or, if the company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due, by an ordinary resolution of its members. The court has authority to order winding up in a number of specified circumstances including where it is, in the opinion of the court, just and equitable to do so.
Variation of Rights of Shares
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation may vary the rights of a class of shares with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares of such class, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Under Cayman Islands law and our amended and restated articles of association, if our share capital is divided into more than one class of shares, we may vary the rights attached to any class with the written consent of the holders of two-thirds of the issued shares of that class or with the sanction of a special resolution passed at a general meeting of the holders of the shares of that class.
Amendment of Governing Documents
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation’s governing documents may be amended with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Under the Companies Act and our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution of our shareholders.
Rights of Non-resident or Foreign Shareholders
There are no limitations imposed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association on the rights of non-resident or foreign shareholders to hold or exercise voting rights on our shares. In addition, there are no provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the ownership threshold above which shareholder ownership must be disclosed.
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History of Securities Issuances
The following is a summary of our securities issuances in the past three years. Unless otherwise noted, the history of securities issuances set forth below does not give effect to the 1-for-1.74 share consolidation of our ordinary shares effected prior to our IPO.
Ordinary Shares
On April 14, 2020, we issued 245,798 ordinary shares to each of BioFortune Inc. and Zheng Wei, Ph.D.
From December 2018 through December 2020, we issued 4,473,305 ordinary shares to Connect Union, Inc. as nominee for purposes of the implementation of awards issue or to be issued to employees, directors and consultants of our company pursuant to the 2019 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2019 Plan. In September 2021, Connect Union surrendered all such ordinary shares to us and ceased holding ordinary shares issued by us under the nominee structure.
Immediately prior to our IPO, we effected a 1-for-1.74 share consolidation of our ordinary shares.
In March 2021, we completed our IPO on the NASDAQ Global Market pursuant to which we issued 12,937,500 ADSs, representing 12,937,500 ordinary shares, at $17.00 per share for gross proceeds of $219,937,500.00.
Upon the closing of our IPO, we issued (i) 121,080 ordinary shares to each of BioFortune Inc. and Dr. Wei immediately after the closing of the offering as a result of the achievement of the Financing Condition and (ii) 46,232 ordinary shares to the holders of Series C Preferred Shares pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions contained in the shareholders agreement with our pre-IPO investors.
In connection with our IPO, we adopted the 2021 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2021 Plan, to provide additional incentives to selected employees, directors and consultants, and to enable our company to obtain and retain the services of these individuals. The 2021 Plan enables us to grant options, share appreciation rights, restricted shares, restricted share units, dividend equivalent rights or other stock- or cash-based awards to our employees, directors and consultants. We authorized 6,000,000 ordinary shares to be available for grant pursuant to awards under the 2021 Plan, and as of May 31, 2022, there were 2,622,614 shares remaining available for grant.
As of May 31, 2022, there were 5,665,920 options outstanding under both plans with a weighted average exercise price of $8.19 of which 929,568 shares were vested.
Preferred Shares
Series C Preferred Shares Financing. On August 21, 2020, we issued and sold to investors in private placements an aggregate of 16,605,196 Series C Preferred Shares at a subscription price of $6.3233 per share, for aggregate consideration of approximately $105 million. On December 1, 2020, we issued and sold to investors in private placements an aggregate of 4,744,341 Series C Preferred Shares at a subscription price of $6.3233 per share, for aggregate consideration of $30 million.
All of our preferred shares were automatically converted into ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of our IPO.
The following table sets forth the aggregate number of our ordinary shares and preferred shares acquired by holders of more than 5% of our ordinary shares in the pre-IPO financing transactions described above. All of our
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preferred shares were automatically converted into ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of our IPO.
| PARTICIPANTS |
ORDINARY SHARES |
SERIES C PREFERRED SHARES |
||||||
|
5% or Greater Shareholders |
||||||||
| Entities affiliated with Qiming Venture Partners (1) |
— | 3,162,895 | ||||||
| Entities affiliated with RA Capital Management (2) |
— | 6,325,789 | ||||||
| Shanghai Minhui Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) |
9,232,700 | — | ||||||
| (1) | Represents shares acquired by Qiming Managing Directors Fund V, L.P., Qiming Venture Partners V, L.P., Qiming VII Strategic Investors Fund, L.P. and Qiming Venture Partners VII, L.P. |
| (2) | Represents shares acquired by RA Capital Healthcare Fund, L.P., RA Capital Nexus Fund, L.P. and Blackwell Partners LLC—Series A. |
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The depositary for the ADSs is Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas. Our ordinary share register is maintained by Maples Fund Services (Cayman) Limited. The share register reflects only record owners of our ordinary shares. Holders of our ADSs will not be treated as one of our shareholders and their names will therefore not be entered in our share register. The depositary, the custodian or their nominees will be the holder of the shares underlying our ADSs. Holders of our ADSs have a right to receive the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs. For discussion on our ADSs and ADS holder rights, see “Description of American Depositary Shares” in this prospectus.
Listing
Our ADSs are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “CNTB.”
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DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN DEPOSITARY SHARES
American Depositary Shares
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as depositary, will register and deliver the ADSs. Each ADS will represent ownership of one ordinary share, deposited with Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch, as custodian for the depositary. Each ADS will also represent ownership of any other securities, cash or other property which may be held by the depositary. The depositary’s corporate trust office at which the ADSs will be administered is located at 60 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, USA. The principal executive office of the depositary is located at 60 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, USA.
The Direct Registration System, or DRS, is a system administered by The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, pursuant to which the depositary may register the ownership of uncertificated ADSs, which ownership shall be evidenced by periodic statements issued by the depositary to the ADS holders entitled thereto.
We will not treat ADS holders as our shareholders and accordingly, you, as an ADS holder, will not have shareholder rights. Cayman Islands law governs shareholder rights. The depositary will be the holder of the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. As a holder of ADSs, you will have ADS holder rights. A deposit agreement among us, the depositary and you, as an ADS holder, and the beneficial owners of ADSs sets out ADS holder rights as well as the rights and obligations of the depositary. The laws of the State of New York govern the deposit agreement and the ADSs. See “—Jurisdiction and Arbitration.”
The following is a summary of the material provisions of the deposit agreement. For more complete information, you should read the entire deposit agreement and the form of American Depositary Receipt, or ADR. For directions on how to obtain copies of those documents, see “Where You Can Find More Information.”
Holding the ADSs
How will you hold your ADSs?
You may hold ADSs either (1) directly (a) by having an ADR, which is a certificate evidencing a specific number of ADSs, registered in your name, or (b) by holding ADSs in DRS, or (2) indirectly through your broker or other financial institution. If you hold ADSs directly, you are an ADS holder. This description assumes you hold your ADSs directly. ADSs will be issued through DRS, unless you specifically request certificated ADRs. If you hold the ADSs indirectly, you must rely on the procedures of your broker or other financial institution to assert the rights of ADS holders described in this section. You should consult with your broker or financial institution to find out what those procedures are.
Dividends and Other Distributions
How will you receive dividends and other distributions on the ordinary shares?
The depositary has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on ordinary shares or other deposited securities, after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary shares your ADSs represent as of the record date (which will be as close as practicable to the record date for our ordinary shares) set by the depositary with respect to the ADSs.
| • | Cash. The depositary will convert or cause to be converted any cash dividend or other cash distribution we pay on the ordinary shares or any net proceeds from the sale of any ordinary shares, rights, securities or other entitlements under the terms of the deposit agreement into U.S. dollars if it can do so on a practicable basis, and can transfer the U.S. dollars to the United States and will distribute promptly the amount thus received. If the depositary shall determine in its judgment that such conversions or transfers are not practical or lawful or if any government approval or license is needed and cannot be |
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| obtained at a reasonable cost within a reasonable period or otherwise sought, the deposit agreement allows the depositary to distribute the foreign currency only to those ADS holders to whom it is possible to do so. It will hold or cause the custodian to hold the foreign currency it cannot convert for the account of the ADS holders who have not been paid and such funds will be held for the respective accounts of the ADS holders. It will not invest the foreign currency and it will not be liable for any interest for the respective accounts of the ADS holders. |
| • | Before making a distribution, any taxes or other governmental charges, together with fees and expenses of the depositary, that must be paid, will be deducted. See “Taxation.” It will distribute only whole U.S. dollars and cents and will round down fractional cents to the nearest whole cent. If the exchange rates fluctuate during a time when the depositary cannot convert the foreign currency, you may lose some or all of the value of the distribution. |
| • | Shares. For any ordinary shares we distribute as a dividend or free distribution, either (1) the depositary will distribute additional ADSs representing such ordinary shares or (2) existing ADSs as of the applicable record date will represent rights and interests in the additional ordinary shares distributed, to the extent reasonably practicable and permissible under law, in either case, net of applicable fees, charges and expenses incurred by the depositary and taxes and/or other governmental charges. The depositary will only distribute whole ADSs. It will try to sell ordinary shares which would require it to deliver a fractional ADS and distribute the net proceeds in the same way as it does with cash. The depositary may sell a portion of the distributed ordinary shares sufficient to pay its fees and expenses, and any taxes and governmental charges, in connection with that distribution. |
| • | Elective Distributions in Cash or Shares. If we offer holders of our ordinary shares the option to receive dividends in either cash or shares, the depositary, after consultation with us and having received timely notice as described in the deposit agreement of such elective distribution by us, has discretion to determine to what extent such elective distribution will be made available to you as a holder of the ADSs. We must timely first instruct the depositary to make such elective distribution available to you and furnish it with satisfactory evidence that it is legal to do so. The depositary could decide it is not legal or reasonably practicable to make such elective distribution available to you. In such case, the depositary shall, on the basis of the same determination as is made in respect of the ordinary shares for which no election is made, distribute either cash in the same way as it does in a cash distribution, or additional ADSs representing ordinary shares in the same way as it does in a share distribution. The depositary is not obligated to make available to you a method to receive the elective dividend in shares rather than in ADSs. There can be no assurance that you will be given the opportunity to receive elective distributions on the same terms and conditions as the holders of ordinary shares. |
| • | Rights to Purchase Additional Shares. If we offer holders of our ordinary shares any rights to subscribe for additional shares, the depositary shall having received timely notice as described in the deposit agreement of such distribution by us, consult with us, and we must determine whether it is lawful and reasonably practicable to make these rights available to you. We must first instruct the depositary to make such rights available to you and furnish the depositary with satisfactory evidence that it is legal to do so. If the depositary decides it is not legal or reasonably practicable to make the rights available but that it is lawful and reasonably practicable to sell the rights, the depositary will endeavor to sell the rights and in a riskless principal capacity or otherwise, at such place and upon such terms (including public or private sale) as it may deem proper distribute the net proceeds in the same way as it does with cash. The depositary will allow rights that are not distributed or sold to lapse. In that case, you will receive no value for them. |
If the depositary makes rights available to you, it will establish procedures to distribute such rights and enable you to exercise the rights upon your payment of applicable fees, charges and expenses incurred by the depositary and taxes and/or other governmental charges. The Depositary shall not be obliged to make available to you a method to exercise such rights to subscribe for ordinary shares (rather than ADSs).
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U.S. securities laws may restrict transfers and cancellation of the ADSs represented by shares purchased upon exercise of rights. For example, you may not be able to trade these ADSs freely in the United States. In this case, the depositary may deliver restricted depositary shares that have the same terms as the ADSs described in this section except for changes needed to put the necessary restrictions in place.
There can be no assurance that you will be given the opportunity to exercise rights on the same terms and conditions as the holders of ordinary shares or be able to exercise such rights.
| • | Other Distributions. Subject to receipt of timely notice, as described in the deposit agreement, from us with the request to make any such distribution available to you, and provided the depositary has determined such distribution is lawful and reasonably practicable and feasible and in accordance with the terms of the deposit agreement, the depositary will distribute to you anything else we distribute on deposited securities by any means it may deem practicable, upon your payment of applicable fees, charges and expenses incurred by the depositary and taxes and/or other governmental charges. If any of the conditions above are not met, the depositary will endeavor to sell, or cause to be sold, what we distributed and distribute the net proceeds in the same way as it does with cash; or, if it is unable to sell such property, the depositary may dispose of such property in any way it deems reasonably practicable under the circumstances for nominal or no consideration, such that you may have no rights to or arising from such property. |
The depositary is not responsible if it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any ADS holders. We have no obligation to register ADSs, shares, rights or other securities under the Securities Act. We also have no obligation to take any other action to permit the distribution of ADSs, shares, rights or anything else to ADS holders. This means that you may not receive the distributions we make on our shares or any value for them if we and/or the depositary determines that it is illegal or not practicable for us or the depositary to make them available to you.
Deposit, Withdrawal and Cancellation
How are ADSs issued?
The depositary will deliver ADSs if you or your broker deposit ordinary shares or evidence of rights to receive ordinary shares with the custodian. Upon payment of its fees and expenses and of any taxes or charges, such as stamp taxes or stock transfer taxes or fees, the depositary will register the appropriate number of ADSs in the names you request and will deliver the ADSs to or upon the order of the person or persons entitled thereto.
How do ADS holders cancel an American Depositary Share?
You may turn in your ADSs at the depositary’s corporate trust office or by providing appropriate instructions to your broker. Upon payment of its fees and expenses and of any taxes or charges, such as stamp taxes or stock transfer taxes or fees, the depositary will deliver the ordinary shares and any other deposited securities underlying the ADSs to you or a person you designate at the office of the custodian. Or, at your request, risk and expense, the depositary will deliver the deposited securities at its corporate trust office, to the extent permitted by law.
How do ADS holders interchange between Certificated ADSs and Uncertificated ADSs?
You may surrender your ADR to the depositary for the purpose of exchanging your ADR for uncertificated ADSs. The depositary will cancel that ADR and will send you a statement confirming that you are the owner of uncertificated ADSs. Alternatively, upon receipt by the depositary of a proper instruction from a holder of uncertificated ADSs requesting the exchange of uncertificated ADSs for certificated ADSs, the depositary will execute and deliver to you an ADR evidencing those ADSs.
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Voting Rights
How do you vote?
You may instruct the depositary to vote the ordinary shares or other deposited securities underlying your ADSs at any meeting at which you are entitled to vote pursuant to any applicable law, the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, and the provisions of or governing the deposited securities. Otherwise, you could exercise your right to vote directly if you withdraw the ordinary shares. However, you may not know about the meeting sufficiently enough in advance to withdraw the ordinary shares.
If we ask for your instructions and upon timely notice from us by regular, ordinary mail delivery, or by electronic transmission, as described in the deposit agreement, the depositary will notify you of the upcoming meeting at which you are entitled to vote pursuant to any applicable law, the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, and the provisions of or governing the deposited securities, and arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. The materials will include or reproduce (a) such notice of meeting or solicitation of consents or proxies; (b) a statement that the ADS holders at the close of business on the ADS record date will be entitled, subject to any applicable law, the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, and the provisions of or governing the deposited securities, to instruct the depositary as to the exercise of the voting rights, if any, pertaining to the ordinary shares or other deposited securities represented by such holder’s ADSs; and (c) a brief statement as to the manner in which such instructions may be given to the depositary or deemed given in accordance with the second to last sentence of this paragraph if no instruction is received by the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us. Voting instructions may be given only in respect of a number of ADSs representing an integral number of ordinary shares or other deposited securities. For instructions to be valid, the depositary must receive them in writing on or before the date specified. The depositary will try, as far as practical, subject to applicable law and the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, to vote or to have its agents vote the ordinary shares or other deposited securities (in person or by proxy) as you instruct. The depositary will only vote or attempt to vote as you instruct. If we timely requested the depositary to solicit your instructions but no instructions are received by the depositary from an owner with respect to any of the deposited securities represented by the ADSs of that owner on or before the date established by the depositary for such purpose, the depositary shall deem that owner to have instructed the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us with respect to such deposited securities, and the depositary shall give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us to vote such deposited securities. However, no such instruction shall be deemed given and no such discretionary proxy shall be given with respect to any matter if we inform the depositary that we do not wish such proxy given, substantial opposition exists or the matter materially and adversely affects the rights of holders of the ordinary shares.
We cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. In addition, there can be no assurance that ADS holders and beneficial owners generally, or any holder or beneficial owner in particular, will be given the opportunity to vote or cause the custodian to vote on the same terms and conditions as the holders of our ordinary shares.
The depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for the manner of carrying out voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may have no recourse if the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested.
In order to give you a reasonable opportunity to instruct the depositary as to the exercise of voting rights relating to deposited securities, if we request the depositary to act, we will give the depositary notice of any such meeting and details concerning the matters to be voted at least 30 business days in advance of the meeting date.
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Compliance with Regulations
Information Requests
Each ADS holder and beneficial owner shall (a) provide such information as we or the depositary may request pursuant to law, including, without limitation, relevant Cayman Islands law, any applicable law of the United States of America, our memorandum and articles of association, any resolutions of our Board of Directors adopted pursuant to such memorandum and articles of association, the requirements of any markets or exchanges upon which the ordinary shares, ADSs or ADRs are listed or traded, or to any requirements of any electronic book-entry system by which the ADSs or ADRs may be transferred, regarding the capacity in which they own or owned ADRs, the identity of any other persons then or previously interested in such ADRs and the nature of such interest, and any other applicable matters, and (b) be bound by and subject to applicable provisions of the laws of the Cayman Islands, our memorandum and articles of association, and the requirements of any markets or exchanges upon which the ADSs, ADRs or ordinary shares are listed or traded, or pursuant to any requirements of any electronic book-entry system by which the ADSs, ADRs or ordinary shares may be transferred, to the same extent as if such ADS holder or beneficial owner held ordinary shares directly, in each case irrespective of whether or not they are ADS holders or beneficial owners at the time such request is made.
Disclosure of Interests
Each ADS holder and beneficial owner shall comply with our requests pursuant to Cayman Islands law, the rules and requirements of the Nasdaq Global Market and any other stock exchange on which the ordinary shares are, or will be, registered, traded or listed or our memorandum and articles of association, which requests are made to provide information, inter alia, as to the capacity in which such ADS holder or beneficial owner owns ADS and regarding the identity of any other person interested in such ADS and the nature of such interest and various other matters, whether or not they are ADS holders or beneficial owners at the time of such requests.
Fees and Expenses
As an ADS holder, you will be required to pay the following service fees to the depositary bank and certain taxes and governmental charges (in addition to any applicable fees, expenses, taxes and other governmental charges payable on the deposited securities represented by any of your ADSs):
| Service |
Fees | |
| • To any person to which ADSs are issued or to any person to which a distribution is made in respect of ADS distributions pursuant to stock dividends or other free distributions of stock, bonus distributions, stock splits or other distributions (except where converted to cash) |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS issued | |
| • Cancellation of ADSs, including the case of termination of the deposit agreement |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS cancelled | |
| • Distribution of cash dividends |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Distribution of cash entitlements (other than cash dividends) and/or cash proceeds from the sale of rights, securities and other entitlements |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Distribution of ADSs pursuant to exercise of rights |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Distribution of securities other than ADSs or rights to purchase additional ADSs |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Depositary services |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held on the applicable record date(s) established by the depositary bank | |
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As an ADS holder, you will also be responsible for paying certain fees and expenses incurred by the depositary bank and certain taxes and governmental charges (in addition to any applicable fees, expenses, taxes and other governmental charges payable on the deposited securities represented by any of your ADSs) such as:
| • | Fees for the transfer and registration of ordinary shares charged by the registrar and transfer agent for the ordinary shares in the Cayman Islands (i.e., upon deposit and withdrawal of ordinary shares). |
| • | Expenses incurred for converting foreign currency into U.S. dollars. |
| • | Expenses for cable, telex and fax transmissions and for delivery of securities. |
| • | Taxes and duties upon the transfer of securities, including any applicable stamp duties, any stock transfer charges or withholding taxes (i.e., when ordinary shares are deposited or withdrawn from deposit). |
| • | Fees and expenses incurred in connection with the delivery or servicing of ordinary shares on deposit. |
| • | Fees and expenses incurred in connection with complying with exchange control regulations and other regulatory requirements applicable to ordinary shares, deposited securities, ADSs and ADRs. |
| • | Any applicable fees and penalties thereon. |
The depositary fees payable upon the issuance and cancellation of ADSs are typically paid to the depositary bank by the brokers (on behalf of their clients) receiving the newly issued ADSs from the depositary bank and by the brokers (on behalf of their clients) delivering the ADSs to the depositary bank for cancellation. The brokers in turn charge these fees to their clients. Depositary fees payable in connection with distributions of cash or securities to ADS holders and the depositary services fee are charged by the depositary bank to the holders of record of ADSs as of the applicable ADS record date.
The depositary fees payable for cash distributions are generally deducted from the cash being distributed or by selling a portion of distributable property to pay the fees. In the case of distributions other than cash (i.e., share dividends, rights), the depositary bank charges the applicable fee to the ADS record date holders concurrent with the distribution. In the case of ADSs registered in the name of the investor (whether certificated or uncertificated in direct registration), the depositary bank sends invoices to the applicable record date ADS holders. In the case of ADSs held in brokerage and custodian accounts (via DTC), the depositary bank generally collects its fees through the systems provided by DTC (whose nominee is the registered holder of the ADSs held in DTC) from the brokers and custodians holding ADSs in their DTC accounts. The brokers and custodians who hold their clients’ ADSs in DTC accounts in turn charge their clients’ accounts the amount of the fees paid to the depositary banks.
In the event of refusal to pay the depositary fees, the depositary bank may, under the terms of the deposit agreement, refuse the requested service until payment is received or may set off the amount of the depositary fees from any distribution to be made to the ADS holder.
The depositary may make payments to us or reimburse us for certain costs and expenses, by making available a portion of the ADS fees collected in respect of the ADR program or otherwise, upon such terms and conditions as we and the depositary bank agree from time to time.
Payment of Taxes
You will be responsible for any taxes or other governmental charges payable, or which become payable, on your ADSs or on the deposited securities represented by any of your ADSs. The depositary may refuse to register or transfer your ADSs or allow you to withdraw the deposited securities represented by your ADSs until such taxes or other charges are paid. It may apply payments owed to you or sell deposited securities represented by your ADSs to pay any taxes owed and you will remain liable for any deficiency. If the depositary sells deposited
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securities, it will, if appropriate, reduce the number of ADSs to reflect the sale and pay to you any net proceeds, or send to you any property, remaining after it has paid the taxes. You agree to indemnify us, the depositary, the custodian and each of our and their respective agents, directors, employees and affiliates for, and hold each of them harmless from, any claims with respect to taxes (including applicable interest and penalties thereon) arising from any refund of taxes, reduced rate of withholding at source or other tax benefit obtained for you. Your obligations under this paragraph shall survive any transfer of ADRs, any surrender of ADRs and withdrawal of deposited securities or the termination of the deposit agreement.
Reclassifications, Recapitalizations and Mergers
| If we: |
Then: | |
| Change the nominal or par value of our ordinary shares | The cash, shares or other securities received by the depositary will become deposited securities. | |
| Reclassify, split up or consolidate any of the deposited securities | Each ADS will automatically represent its equal share of the new deposited securities. | |
| Distribute securities on the ordinary shares that are not distributed to you, or
Recapitalize, reorganize, merge, liquidate, sell all or substantially all of our assets, or take any similar action |
The depositary may distribute some or all of the cash, shares or other securities it received. It may also deliver new ADSs or ask you to surrender your outstanding ADRs in exchange for new ADRs identifying the new deposited securities. | |
Amendment and Termination
How may the deposit agreement be amended?
We may agree with the depositary to amend the deposit agreement and the form of ADR without your consent for any reason. If an amendment adds or increases fees or charges, except for taxes and other governmental charges or expenses of the depositary for registration fees, facsimile costs, delivery charges or similar items, including expenses incurred in connection with foreign exchange control regulations and other charges specifically payable by ADS holders under the deposit agreement, or materially prejudices a substantial existing right of ADS holders, it will not become effective for outstanding ADSs until 30 days after the depositary notifies ADS holders of the amendment. At the time an amendment becomes effective, you are considered, by continuing to hold your ADSs, to agree to the amendment and to be bound by the ADRs and the deposit agreement as amended. If any new laws are adopted which would require the deposit agreement to be amended in order to comply therewith, we and the depositary may amend the deposit agreement in accordance with such laws and such amendment may become effective before notice thereof is given to ADS holders.
How may the deposit agreement be terminated?
The depositary will terminate the deposit agreement if we ask it to do so, in which case the depositary will give notice to you at least 90 days prior to termination. The depositary may also terminate the deposit agreement if the depositary has told us that it would like to resign, or if we have removed the depositary, and in either case we have not appointed a new depositary within 90 days. In either such case, the depositary must notify you at least 30 days before termination.
After termination, the depositary and its agents will do the following under the deposit agreement but nothing else: collect distributions on the deposited securities, sell rights and other property and deliver ordinary shares and other deposited securities upon cancellation of ADSs after payment of any fees, charges, taxes or other governmental charges. Six months or more after the date of termination, the depositary may sell any remaining deposited securities by public or private sale. After that, the depositary will hold the money it received on the sale, as well as any other cash it is holding under the deposit agreement, for the pro rata benefit of the ADS holders that have not surrendered their ADSs. It will not invest the money and has no liability for interest.
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After such sale, the depositary’s only obligations will be to account for the money and other cash. After termination, we shall be discharged from all obligations under the deposit agreement except for our obligations to the depositary thereunder.
Books of Depositary
The depositary will maintain ADS holder records at its depositary office. You may inspect such records at such office during regular business hours but solely for the purpose of communicating with other holders in the interest of business matters relating to the Company, the ADRs and the deposit agreement.
The depositary will maintain facilities in the Borough of Manhattan, The City of New York to record and process the issuance, cancellation, combination, split-up and transfer of ADRs.
These facilities may be closed at any time or from time to time when such action is deemed necessary or advisable by the depositary in connection with the performance of its duties under the deposit agreement or at our reasonable written request.
Limitations on Obligations and Liability
Limits on our Obligations and the Obligations of the Depositary and the Custodian; Limits on Liability to Holders of ADSs
The deposit agreement expressly limits our obligations and the obligations of the depositary and the custodian. It also limits our liability and the liability of the depositary. The depositary and the custodian:
| • | are only obligated to take the actions specifically set forth in the deposit agreement without gross negligence or willful misconduct; |
| • | are not liable if any of us or our respective controlling persons or agents are prevented or forbidden from, or subjected to any civil or criminal penalty or restraint on account of, or delayed in, doing or performing any act or thing required by the terms of the deposit agreement and any ADR, by reason of any provision of any present or future law or regulation of the United States or any state thereof, the Cayman Islands or any other country, or of any other governmental authority or regulatory authority or stock exchange, or on account of the possible criminal or civil penalties or restraint, or by reason of any provision, present or future, of our memorandum and articles of association or any provision of or governing any deposited securities, or by reason of any act of God or war or other circumstances beyond its control (including, without limitation, nationalization, expropriation, currency restrictions, work stoppage, strikes, civil unrest, revolutions, rebellions, explosions and computer failure); |
| • | are not liable by reason of any exercise of, or failure to exercise, any discretion provided for in the deposit agreement or in our memorandum and articles of association or provisions of or governing deposited securities; |
| • | are not liable for any action or inaction of the depositary, the custodian or us or their or our respective controlling persons or agents in reliance upon the advice of or information from legal counsel, any person presenting ordinary shares for deposit or any other person believed by it in good faith to be competent to give such advice or information; |
| • | are not liable for the inability of any holder of ADSs to benefit from any distribution on deposited securities that is not made available to holders of ADSs under the terms of the deposit agreement; |
| • | are not liable for any special, consequential, indirect or punitive damages for any breach of the terms of the deposit agreement, or otherwise; |
| • | may rely upon any documents we believe in good faith to be genuine and to have been signed or presented by the proper party; |
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| • | disclaim any liability for any action or inaction or inaction of any of us or our respective controlling persons or agents in reliance upon the advice of or information from legal counsel, accountants, any person presenting ordinary shares for deposit, holders and beneficial owners (or authorized representatives) of ADSs, or any person believed in good faith to be competent to give such advice or information; and |
| • | disclaim any liability for inability of any holder to benefit from any distribution, offering, right or other benefit made available to holders of deposited securities but not made available to holders of ADS. |
The depositary and any of its agents also disclaim any liability (i) for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, the manner in which any vote is cast or the effect of any vote or failure to determine that any distribution or action may be lawful or reasonably practicable or for allowing any rights to lapse in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement, (ii) the failure or timeliness of any notice from us, the content of any information submitted to it by us for distribution to you or for any inaccuracy of any translation thereof, (iii) any investment risk associated with the acquisition of an interest in the deposited securities, the validity or worth of the deposited securities, the credit-worthiness of any third party, (iv) for any tax consequences that may result from ownership of ADSs, ordinary shares or deposited securities, or (v) for any acts or omissions made by a successor depositary whether in connection with a previous act or omission of the depositary or in connection with any matter arising wholly after the removal or resignation of the depositary, provided that in connection with the issue out of which such potential liability arises the depositary performed its obligations without gross negligence or willful misconduct while it acted as depositary.
In the deposit agreement, we and the depositary agree to indemnify each other under certain circumstances.
Jurisdiction and Arbitration
The laws of the State of New York govern the deposit agreement and the ADSs and we have agreed with the depositary that the federal or state courts in the City of New York shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any dispute arising from or in connection with the deposit agreement and that the depositary will have the right to refer any claim or dispute arising from the relationship created by the deposit agreement (including those purchasers of ADSs in a secondary market transaction) to arbitration in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitration provisions of the deposit agreement govern such dispute or difference and do not, in any event, preclude you from pursuing claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act in federal or state courts.
Jury Trial Waiver
The deposit agreement provides that each party to the deposit agreement (including each holder, beneficial owner and holder of interests in the ADRs) irrevocably waives, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any right it may have to a trial by jury in any lawsuit or proceeding against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws. If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable law.
Requirements for Depositary Actions
Before the depositary will issue, deliver or register a transfer of an ADS, split-up, subdivide or combine ADSs, make a distribution on an ADS, or permit withdrawal of ordinary shares, the depositary may require:
| • | payment of stock transfer or other taxes or other governmental charges and transfer or registration fees charged by third parties for the transfer of any ordinary shares or other deposited securities and payment of the applicable fees, expenses and charges of the depositary; |
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| • | satisfactory proof of the identity and genuineness of any signature or any other matters contemplated in the deposit agreement; and |
| • | compliance with (A) any laws or governmental regulations relating to the execution and delivery of ADRs or ADSs or to the withdrawal or delivery of deposited securities and (B) such reasonable regulations and procedures as the depositary may establish, from time to time, consistent with the deposit agreement and applicable laws, including presentation of transfer documents. |
The depositary may refuse to issue and deliver ADSs or register transfers of ADSs generally when the register of the depositary or our transfer books are closed or at any time if the depositary or we determine that it is necessary or advisable to do so.
Your Right to Receive the Shares Underlying Your ADSs
You have the right to cancel your ADSs and withdraw the underlying ordinary shares at any time except:
| • | when temporary delays arise because: (1) the depositary has closed its transfer books or we have closed our transfer books; (2) the transfer of ordinary shares is blocked to permit voting at a shareholders’ meeting; or (3) we are paying a dividend on our ordinary shares; |
| • | when you owe money to pay fees, taxes and similar charges; |
| • | when it is necessary to prohibit withdrawals in order to comply with any laws or governmental regulations that apply to ADSs or to the withdrawal of ordinary shares or other deposited securities, or other circumstances specifically contemplated by Section I.A.(l) of the General Instructions to Form F-6 (as such General Instructions may be amended from time to time); or |
| • | for any other reason if the depositary or we determine, in good faith, that it is necessary or advisable to prohibit withdrawals. |
The depositary shall not knowingly accept for deposit under the deposit agreement any ordinary shares or other deposited securities required to be registered under the provisions of the Securities Act, unless a registration statement is in effect as to such ordinary shares.
This right of withdrawal may not be limited by any other provision of the deposit agreement.
Direct Registration System
In the deposit agreement, all parties to the deposit agreement acknowledge that the DRS and Profile Modification System, or Profile, will apply to uncertificated ADSs upon acceptance thereof to DRS by DTC. DRS is the system administered by DTC pursuant to which the depositary may register the ownership of uncertificated ADSs, which ownership shall be evidenced by periodic statements issued by the depositary to the ADS holders entitled thereto. Profile is a required feature of DRS which allows a DTC participant, claiming to act on behalf of an ADS holder, to direct the depositary to register a transfer of those ADSs to DTC or its nominee and to deliver those ADSs to the DTC account of that DTC participant without receipt by the depositary of prior authorization from the ADS holder to register such transfer.
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We may sell or distribute our ADSs from time to time in one or more public or private transactions:
| • | through underwriters; |
| • | through agents; |
| • | to dealers; |
| • | directly to one or more purchasers; |
| • | in “at the market” offerings, within the meaning of Rule 415(a)(4) of the Securities Act, to or through a market maker or into an existing trading market on an exchange or otherwise; |
| • | in block trades; |
| • | through a combination of any of the above; and |
| • | any other method permitted pursuant to applicable law. |
| • | Any sale or distribution may be effected by us: |
| • | at market prices prevailing at the time of sale; |
| • | at varying prices determined at the time of sale; or |
| • | at negotiated or fixed prices. |
At any time a particular offer of the ADSs is made, a prospectus supplement, if required, will be distributed and set forth the terms of each specific offering, including the name or names of any underwriters or agents, the purchase price of the ADSs and the proceeds to us from such sales or distribution, any delayed delivery arrangements, any underwriting discounts and other items constituting underwriters’ compensation, any initial public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or re-allowed or paid to dealers. Any initial public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or re-allowed or paid to dealers may be changed from time to time.
In addition, we may distribute the ADSs as a dividend or in a rights offering to our existing security holders. In some cases, we or dealers acting for us or on behalf of us may also repurchase the ADSs and reoffer them to the public by one or more of the methods described above.
Through Underwriters
If underwriters are used in a sale or distribution, the ADSs will be acquired by the underwriters for their own account and may be resold from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions, at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. The ADSs may be offered to the public either through underwriting syndicates represented by one or more managing underwriters or directly by one or more firms acting as underwriters. The underwriter or underwriters with respect to a particular underwritten offering and, if an underwriting syndicate is used, the managing underwriter or underwriters will be set forth on the cover of such prospectus supplement. Unless otherwise set forth in the prospectus supplement, the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all the ADSs if any are purchased.
During and after an offering through underwriters, the underwriters may purchase and sell or distribute the ADSs in the open market. These transactions may include overallotment and stabilizing transactions and purchases to cover syndicate short positions created in connection with the offering. The underwriters also may impose a penalty bid, under which selling concessions allowed to syndicate members or other broker-dealers for the ADSs they sell or distribute for their account may be reclaimed by the syndicate if the syndicate repurchases the ADSs in stabilizing or covering transactions. These activities may stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the
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market price of the ADSs, which may be higher than the price that might otherwise prevail in the open market, and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.
Through Agents or to Dealers
We may sell or distribute the ADSs directly or through agents we designate from time to time. Unless otherwise indicated in a prospectus supplement, any such agent will be acting on a best efforts basis for the period of its appointment.
If dealers are used in any of the sales or distribution of the ADSs covered by this prospectus, we will sell those ADSs to dealers as principals. The dealers may then resell the ADSs to the public at varying prices the dealers determine at the time of resale.
Direct Sales
We may sell or distribute the ADSs directly to institutional investors or others who may be deemed to be underwriters within the meaning of the Securities Act with respect to any sale thereof.
Delayed Delivery
If so indicated in a prospectus supplement, we may authorize agents, underwriters or dealers to solicit offers from certain types of institutions to purchase the ADSs from us at the public offering price set forth in the prospectus supplement pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. These contracts will be subject only to those conditions set forth in the prospectus supplement, and the prospectus supplement will set forth the commission payable for solicitation of such contracts.
Derivative Transactions and Hedging
We and the underwriters may engage in derivative transactions involving the ADSs. These derivatives may consist of short sale transactions and other hedging activities. The underwriters may acquire a long or short position in the ADSs, hold or resell ADSs acquired and purchase options or futures on the ADSs and other derivative instruments with returns linked to or related to changes in the price of the ADSs. In order to facilitate these derivative transactions, we may enter into security lending or repurchase agreements with the underwriters. The underwriters may carry out the derivative transactions through sales or distributions of the ADSs to the public, including short sales, or by lending the ADSs in order to facilitate short sale transactions by others. The underwriters may also use the ADSs purchased or borrowed from us or others (or, in the case of derivatives, ADSs received from us in settlement of those derivatives) to directly or indirectly settle sales of the ADSs or close out any related open borrowings of the ADSs.
Loans of Securities
We may loan or pledge the ADSs to a financial institution or other third party that in turn may sell the ADSs using this prospectus and an applicable prospectus supplement.
General
Agents, dealers and direct purchasers that participate in the distribution of the offered ADSs may be underwriters as defined in the Securities Act and any discounts or commissions they receive from us and any profit on the resale of the offered ADSs by them may be treated as underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act. Agents, dealers and underwriters may be entitled under agreements entered into with us to indemnification by us against certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribution with respect to payments which such agents, dealers or underwriters may be required to make in respect thereof. Agents, dealers and underwriters may be customers of, engage in transactions with, or perform services on our behalf.
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WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form F-3, of which this prospectus is part, with respect to the ADSs we will offer. This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement do not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules to the registration statement. For further information, we refer you to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed as part of the registration statement. If a document has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement, we refer you to the copy of the document that has been filed. Each statement in this prospectus relating to a document filed as an exhibit is qualified in all respects by the filed exhibit.
We are subject to the informational requirements of the Exchange Act. Accordingly, we are required to file reports and other information with the SEC, including annual reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K. The SEC maintains an internet website that contains reports and other information about issuers, like us, that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is www.sec.gov.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt under the Exchange Act from, among other things, the rules prescribing the furnishing and content of proxy statements, and our board members, executive officers, and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we are not required under the Exchange Act to file periodic reports and consolidated financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act.
We will send our transfer agent a copy of all notices of our general meetings of shareholders and other reports, communications and information that are made generally available to shareholders. The transfer agent has agreed to mail to all shareholders a notice containing the information (or a summary of the information) contained in any notice of a meeting of our shareholders received by the transfer agent and will make available to all shareholders such notices and all such other reports and communications received by the transfer agent.
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The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” into this prospectus the information in documents we file with it. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. Each document incorporated by reference is current only as of the date of such document, and the incorporation by reference of such documents shall not create any implication that there has been no change in our affairs since the date thereof or that the information contained therein is current as of any time subsequent to its date. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be a part of this prospectus and should be read with the same care. When we update the information contained in documents that have been incorporated by reference by making future filings with the SEC, the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus is considered to be automatically updated and superseded. In other words, in the case of a conflict or inconsistency between information contained in this prospectus and information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, you should rely on the information contained in the document that was filed later.
We incorporate by reference the documents listed below:
| • | our Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-40212) filed with the SEC for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022; |
| • | the description of our Ordinary Shares contained in our registration statement on Form 8-A, filed with the SEC on March 12, 2021, and any amendment or report filed with the SEC for the purpose of updating the description; |
| • | with respect to each offering of ADSs under this prospectus, each subsequent annual report on Form 20-F and each report of foreign private issuer on Form 6-K that indicates that it is being incorporated by reference, in each case, that we file with or furnish to the SEC on or after the date on which this registration statement is first filed with the SEC and until the termination or completion of that offering under this prospectus; and |
| • | the information specifically incorporated by reference herein from our reports of foreign private issuer on Form 6-K filed with the SEC on May 3, 2022, May 5, 2022, May 9, 2022, June 10, 2022 and June 17, 2022. |
Unless expressly incorporated by reference, nothing in this prospectus shall be deemed to incorporate by reference information furnished to, but not filed with, the SEC. Copies of all documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, other than exhibits to those documents unless such exhibits are specially incorporated by reference in this prospectus, will be provided at no cost to each person, including any beneficial owner, who receives a copy of this prospectus on the written or oral request of that person made to:
Connect Biopharm LLC
12265 El Camino Real, Suite 350
San Diego, CA 92130
Tel: +1 858 344 1036
Attention: Chief Financial Officer
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ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES
We are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability. We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands to take advantage of certain benefits associated with being a Cayman Islands exempted company, such as:
| • | political and economic stability; |
| • | an effective judicial system; |
| • | a favorable tax system; |
| • | the absence of exchange control or currency restrictions; and |
| • | the availability of professional and support services. |
However, certain disadvantages accompany incorporation in the Cayman Islands. These disadvantages include but are not limited to:
| • | the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States and these securities laws provide significantly less protection to investors as compared to the United States; and |
| • | Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the federal courts of the United States. |
Our constituent documents do not contain provisions requiring that disputes, including those arising under the securities laws of the United States, between us, our officers, directors and shareholders, be arbitrated.
A substantial part of our operations is conducted in the PRC, and substantially all of our operational assets and certain of our directors and officers are located in the PRC. As a result, it may not be possible to effect service of process upon us or our directors and officers, including with respect to matters arising under U.S. federal securities laws or applicable state securities laws. Even if an investor obtains a judgment against us or our directors or officers in a U.S. court or other court outside the PRC, an investor may not be able to enforce such judgment against us or them in the PRC. The PRC does not have treaties providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts in the United States or most other western countries. Therefore, recognition and enforcement in the PRC of judgments of a court in any of these jurisdictions may be difficult or impossible. In addition, investors may not be able to bring original actions in the PRC based on the U.S. or other non-PRC laws against us or our directors or officers. As a result, shareholder claims that are common in the United States, including class actions based on securities law and fraud claims, are difficult or impossible to pursue as a matter of law and practicality in the PRC.
We have appointed Connect Biopharm LLC, as our agent upon whom process may be served in any action brought against us under the securities laws of the United States. The United States and the Cayman Islands do not have a treaty providing for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters and that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands would (i) recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers, predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States, or (ii) entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands against us or our directors or officers, predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. A judgment obtained in any federal or state court in the United States will be recognized and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, provided such judgment (i) is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction, (ii) imposes on the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which the judgment has been given, (iii) is final, (iv) is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty, and (v) was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands.
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However, the Cayman Islands courts are unlikely to enforce a judgment obtained from the United States courts under the civil liability provisions of the securities laws if such judgment is determined by the courts of the Cayman Islands to give rise to obligations to make payments that are penal or punitive in nature. Because the courts of the Cayman Islands have yet to rule on whether such judgments are penal or punitive in nature, it is uncertain whether such civil liability judgments from U.S. courts would be enforceable in the Cayman Islands.
There is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the PRC would:
| • | recognize or enforce judgments of United States courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States; or |
| • | entertain original actions brought in each respective jurisdiction against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. |
The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law and other applicable laws and regulations based either on treaties between the PRC and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. The PRC does not have any treaties or other form of reciprocity with the United States or the Cayman Islands that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, courts in the PRC will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our directors and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC law or national sovereignty, security or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States or in the Cayman Islands. Under the PRC Civil Procedures Law, foreign shareholders may originate actions based on PRC law against a company in the PRC for disputes if they can establish sufficient nexus to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction, and meet other procedural requirements, including, among others, the plaintiff must have a direct interest in the case, and there must be a concrete claim, a factual basis and a cause for the suit. It will be, however, difficult for U.S. shareholders to originate actions against us in the PRC in accordance with PRC laws because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and it will be difficult for U.S. shareholders, by virtue only of holding the ADSs or ordinary shares, to establish a connection to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction as required under the PRC Civil Procedures Law.
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The financial statements incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.
The office of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP is located at 6/F, DBS Bank Tower, 1318 Lu Jia Zui Ring Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.
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OFFERING EXPENSES
The following is an estimate of the expenses that we may incur in connection with a possible offering of securities registered under this registration statement.
| SEC registration fee |
$ | 27,810 | ||
| FINRA filing fee |
45,500 | |||
| Printing expenses |
* | |||
| Legal fees and expenses |
* | |||
| Accounting fees and expenses |
* | |||
| Transfer agent and trustee fees and expenses |
* | |||
| Miscellaneous |
* | |||
| Total |
$ | * |
| * | These fees are calculated based on the securities offered and the number of issuances and accordingly cannot be estimated at this time. |
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The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, of which this prospectus is a part, is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED JUNE 17, 2022
PROSPECTUS
Up to $150,000,000 of American Depositary Shares
Representing Ordinary Shares
Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited
Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited, a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands in November 2015 (“Connect,” the “Company,” the “Group,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company” and “Connect Biopharma”) has entered into a sales agreement (the “Sales Agreement”), with SVB Securities LLC (“SVB Securities”) and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”), dated April 15, 2022, relating to the American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) offered by this prospectus. Each ADS represents one of our ordinary shares, par value $0.000174 per share (“Ordinary Shares”). Under this prospectus, we may offer and sell ADSs having an aggregate offering price of up to $150.0 million from time to time through SVB Securities and Cantor (the “Sales Agents”), acting as our agents, in accordance with the Sales Agreement.
Sales of the ADSs, if any, under this prospectus may be made by any method permitted that is deemed an “at the market” offering as defined in Rule 415(a)(4) promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), including sales made directly on or through the Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”), on or through any other existing trading market for our Ordinary Shares or ADSs or to or through a market maker. If expressly authorized by us, the Sales Agents may also sell the ADSs in privately negotiated transactions. The Sales Agents are not required to sell any specific number or dollar amount of securities but will act as our sales agents using commercially reasonable efforts consistent with their normal trading and sales practices and applicable state and federal laws, rules and regulations and the rules of the Nasdaq, on mutually agreed terms between the Sales Agents and us. There are no minimum sale requirements, and there is no arrangement for funds to be received in any escrow, trust or similar arrangement.
The compensation payable to the Sales Agents for sales of ADSs sold pursuant to the Sales Agreement will be an amount up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any ADSs sold under the Sales Agreement. See “Plan of Distribution” beginning on page S-47 for additional information regarding the compensation to be paid to the Sales Agents. In connection with the sale of the ADSs on our behalf, each Sales Agent will be deemed to be an “underwriter” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to the Sales Agents will be deemed to be underwriting compensation. We have also agreed in the Sales Agreement to provide indemnification and contribution to the Sales Agents with respect to certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).
The ADSs are listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol “CNTB.” On June 16, 2022, the last reported sale price of the ADSs on the Nasdaq was $0.70 per ADS.
Our principal executive offices are located at Science and Technology Park, East R&D Building, 3rd Floor, 6 Beijing West Road, Taicang, Jiangsu, the People’s Republic of China 215400, and our telephone number is +86 512 5357 7866. Our registered address in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands.
We are not a Chinese operating company but a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. As a holding company with no material operations of our own, we conduct operations primarily through our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, some of which were established in the People’s Republic of China, or the PRC. The securities offered in this prospectus are securities of our Cayman Islands holding company, not of our operating subsidiaries.
Additionally, we are subject to certain legal and operational risks associated with our subsidiaries’ operations in the PRC. PRC laws and regulations governing our current business operations are sometimes vague and uncertain, and therefore, these risks may result in a material negative change in our subsidiaries’ operations, significant depreciation of the value of our ADSs, or a complete hindrance of our ability to offer or continue to offer our securities to investors, which could cause the value of your securities to become worthless. Recently, the PRC government initiated a series of regulatory actions and statements to regulate business operations in the PRC with little advance notice, including cracking down on illegal activities in the securities
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market, enhancing supervision over PRC-based companies listed overseas using variable interest entity structure, or VIE structure, adopting new measures to extend the scope of cybersecurity reviews, and expanding the efforts in anti-monopoly enforcement. Since these statements and regulatory actions are new, it is highly uncertain how soon legislative or administrative regulation making bodies will respond and what existing or new laws or regulations or detailed implementations and interpretations will be modified or promulgated, if any, and the potential impact of such modified or new laws and regulations will have on our daily business operation, the ability to accept foreign investments and list on a U.S. or other foreign exchange. Although we do not have a VIE structure, due to our operations in the PRC, any future PRC, U.S. or other rules and regulations that place restrictions on capital raising or other activities or require enhanced disclosure by PRC-based companies could adversely affect our business and results of operations. If the business environment in the PRC deteriorates from the perspective of domestic or international investment, the PRC government may intervene with our operations and our business in the PRC and the United States, and the market price of our ADSs could be adversely affected. In addition, in May 2022, we were conclusively identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCAA. Consequently, as early as 2024, our securities will be prohibited from trading on a national exchange or over-the-counter under the HFCAA if the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, is unable to inspect or fully investigate our independent registered public accounting firm located in China for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, and as a result the Nasdaq Global Market may make a determination to delist our securities. The trading prohibition could be accelerated to 2023 if the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act is enacted. Our independent registered public accounting firm that issued the audit report included in our annual report filed with the SEC, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because we have substantial operations within the PRC and the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct full inspections of the work of our independent registered public accounting firm as it relates to those operations without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our independent registered public accounting firm is not currently inspected by the PCAOB. This lack of PCAOB inspections in the PRC prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our independent registered public accounting firm’s audits and its quality control procedures, and our independent registered public accounting firm is therefore subject to the determinations announced by the PCAOB on December 16, 2021. As a result, investors are deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.
Investing in our ADSs involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, please read the information under the heading “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-15 of this prospectus, and in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus.
We are dependent upon cash dividends, distributions and other transfers from our subsidiaries to make dividend payments. As of the date of this prospectus, there have not been any such dividends or other distributions from our subsidiaries. In addition, none of our subsidiaries have ever issued any dividends or distributions to us or to U.S. investors. See the section titled “Our Company—Cash Transfer and Dividend Payment” beginning on page S-6 of the prospectus. The majority of our income is received in Renminbi, and shortages in foreign currencies may restrict our ability to pay dividends or other payments, or otherwise satisfy our foreign currency denominated obligations, if any. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and expenditures from trade-related transactions can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from the State Administration of the Foreign Exchange in the PRC as long as certain procedural requirements are met. Approval from appropriate government authorities is required if Renminbi is converted into foreign currency and remitted out of the PRC to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may, at its discretion, impose restrictions on access to foreign currencies for current account transactions and if this occurs in the future, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders. See the section titled “Our Company—Cash Transfer and Dividend Payment” beginning on page S-6 of this prospectus for details.
None of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, any state securities commission or any other regulatory body, has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
| SVB Securities | Cantor |
The date of this prospectus is , 2022.
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This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed on Form F-3 with the SEC, under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, using a “shelf” registration process. Under this prospectus, we may offer and sell up to $150,000,000 of our ADSs from time to time through SVB Securities and Cantor acting as our agents at prices and on terms to be determined by market conditions at the time of the offering.
This prospectus relates to the offering of our ADSs. Before buying any of the ADSs that we are offering, we urge you to carefully read this prospectus, together with the information incorporated by reference as described under the heading “Incorporation of Information by Reference.” These documents contain important information that you should consider when making your investment decision.
This prospectus describes the specific details regarding this offering and also adds to and updates information contained in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus. If any statement in one of these documents is inconsistent with a statement in another document having a later date—for example, a document incorporated by reference into this prospectus—the statement in the document having the later date modifies or supersedes the earlier statement.
We have not, and neither SVB Securities nor Cantor has, authorized anyone to provide any information other than that contained in or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. Neither we, nor SVB Securities or Cantor, take responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We are not, and SVB Securities and Cantor are not, making an offer to sell or soliciting an offer to buy our securities in any jurisdiction where an offer or solicitation is not authorized or in which the person making that offer or solicitation is not qualified to do so or to anyone to whom it is unlawful to make an offer or solicitation. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement, the documents incorporated by reference herein or therein, and in any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with this offering, is accurate only as of the date of those respective documents. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates. You should read this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with this offering, in their entirety before making an investment decision.
When we refer to “Connect,” “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” we mean Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited, together with its direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited, Connect Biopharm LLC, Connect Biopharma Australia PTY LTD, Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd., Connect Biopharma (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Connect Biopharma (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Connect Biopharma (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
All references in this prospectus to “$”, “US$”, “USD”, “U.S. dollars” and “dollars” mean U.S. dollars and all references to “¥” and “RMB” mean renminbi. Our reporting currency is the renminbi. Unless otherwise indicated, all monetary amounts in this annual report are in renminbi. This prospectus contains translations of specific foreign currency amounts into U.S. dollars for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from renminbi to U.S. dollars were made at RMB 6.3757 to $1.00, representing the exchange rate as of December 31, 2021 set forth in the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
We use our trademarks in this prospectus as well as trademarks, tradenames and service marks that are the property of other organizations. Solely for convenience, trademarks and tradenames referred to in this prospectus appear without the ® and ™ symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or that the applicable owner will not assert its rights, to these trademarks and tradenames.
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference herein and any accompanying prospectus supplement may contain or incorporate forward-looking statements that are based on our management’s belief and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements stated in or implied by these forward-looking statements.
All statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made under the “safe harbor” provision under Section 27A of the Securities Act and 21E of the Exchange Act and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” or “would” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements are only predictions. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could materially affect results. You should refer to the “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, and our Annual Reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K filed with the SEC for specific risks that could cause actual results to be significantly different from those stated in or implied by these forward-looking statements. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual events or results may vary significantly from those implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should read this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed with the SEC as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from any future results stated in or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements in this prospectus include, but are not limited to, statements about:
| • | the ability of our clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy of our product candidates, and other positive results; |
| • | the timing, progress, focus, and results of our ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, and the reporting and interpretation of data from those studies and trials; |
| • | our plans relating to commercializing our product candidates, if approved, including the geographic areas of focus and sales strategy; |
| • | the market opportunity and competitive landscape for our product candidates, including our estimates of the number of patients who suffer from the diseases we are targeting; |
| • | the success of competing therapies that are or may become available; |
| • | our estimates of the number and types of patients that we will enroll in our clinical trials; |
| • | the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy and therapeutic effects of our product candidates; |
| • | the timing of initiation and completion, and the progress of our drug discovery and research programs; |
| • | the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals for our product candidates for various diseases; |
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| • | our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates; |
| • | our plans relating to the further development of our product candidates, including additional indications we may pursue; |
| • | existing regulations and regulatory developments in the United States, the PRC, Europe and other jurisdictions; |
| • | risks associated with COVID-19 and other epidemic diseases, which have and may continue to materially and adversely impact our business, preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
| • | our plans and ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property rights and our proprietary technologies, including extensions of existing patent terms where available; |
| • | our continued reliance on third parties to conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates, and for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
| • | our plans regarding, and our ability to enter into, and negotiate favorable terms of, any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements that may be necessary or desirable to develop, manufacture or commercialize our product candidates; |
| • | the need to hire additional personnel and our ability to attract and retain such personnel; |
| • | our plans regarding our growth and expanding our operations, including with respect to expanding our senior management team and constructing facilities; |
| • | our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; |
| • | our financial performance; |
| • | the period over which we estimate our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements; |
| • | our expectations regarding the period during which we will qualify as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act; and |
| • | our anticipated use of our existing resources. |
The “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, and our Annual Reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K filed with the SEC references the principal contingencies and uncertainties to which we believe we are subject, which should be considered in evaluating any forward-looking statements contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or in any prospectus supplement.
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This summary highlights selected information about us, this offering and information contained in greater detail elsewhere in this prospectus and in the documents incorporated by reference. This summary is not complete and does not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in our ADSs. You should carefully read and consider this entire prospectus and the documents, including financial statements and related notes, and information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, including the financial statements and “Risk Factors” starting on page S-15 of this prospectus, before making an investment decision. If you invest in our securities, you are assuming a high degree of risk.
Our Business
Overview
We are a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for the treatment of T cell-driven inflammatory diseases. Our core expertise is in the use of functional cellular assays with T cells to screen and discover potent product candidates against immune targets. Our two most advanced clinical-stage programs include highly differentiated product candidates against validated targets. Our lead product candidate, CBP-201, is an antibody designed to target interleukin-4 receptor alpha, or IL-4Ra, which is a validated target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis (“AD”), and asthma. The estimated global market for AD was approximately $7.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $12.1 billion by 2025, a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 12.4%. Based on observed results in preclinical studies and clinical trials, CBP-201 has the potential to be differentiated from dupilumab, an antibody that also targets IL-4Ra, which is now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. We recently completed a Phase 2b trial of CBP-201 in the United States, Australia and New Zealand in adult patients with moderate-to-severe AD, in which primary and key secondary endpoints were met, and plan to initiate a global Phase 3 program in adult patients with moderate-to-severe AD in the second half of 2022. We are also currently conducting a Phase 2b trial evaluating CBP-201 in Type 2 inflammatory asthma and a pivotal trial in moderate-to-severe AD patients in the PRC. Furthermore, we are developing CBP-307, a modulator of a T cell receptor known as sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1, or S1P1, for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD.
Our immune modulator product candidates originate from our approach to drug discovery based on using biologically relevant functional cellular assays to conduct primary drug screens instead of high-throughput biochemical assays. The clinical and preclinical results we have observed for our product candidates support the potential for this physiologically relevant methodology to yield highly differentiated solutions, in a more efficient manner. Our approach is agnostic to drug modalities and has been used to identify both small molecule and antibody product candidates.
We are advancing CBP-201, an investigational anti-IL-4Ra antibody, for the treatment of inflammatory allergic diseases such as AD and asthma. Inhibition of IL-4Ra blocks the action of two inflammatory cytokines: interleukin- 4, or IL-4, and interleukin-13, or IL-13. In a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 1a trial in healthy volunteers, administration of a single dose of CBP-201 was well-tolerated and led to suppression of a serum biomarker of inflammation. In a randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial in adult AD patients, we observed significant improvements in primary and key secondary endpoints on skin clearance, disease severity, and itch, and CBP-201 was generally well-tolerated. Although no head-to-head trials have been conducted, we believe that CBP-201 has two potential advantages over the current standard of care: (1) in preclinical studies CBP-201 bound to a region of IL-4Ra that is distinct from that bound by dupilumab and associated with high binding affinity and potency for IL-4Ra, which we believe may lead to improved clinical response; and (2) a more convenient proposed dosing regimen in adult patients with moderate to severe AD, as evidenced by our Phase 2b trial data showing positive results with our Q4W (300 mg dose every four weeks) results, which is a less frequent dosing schedule than the Q2W (300 mg dose every two weeks) dose for duplimab for adult patients with moderate to severe AD.
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CBP-307 is an investigational, small molecule modulator of S1P1, a regulator of T cell mobilization out of lymph nodes into the periphery. Inhibiting S1P1 leads to reduction in the levels of these T cells in circulation and a reduction in autoimmune-related inflammation. S1P1 is a validated therapeutic target with three drugs approved to treat multiple sclerosis: fingolimod, marketed as Gilenya® by Novartis, siponimod, marketed as Mayzent® by Novartis, and ozanimod, marketed as Zeposia®, by Bristol Myers Squibb. Evidence from third-party clinical trials suggests that the potential of S1P1 modulators is far broader than multiple sclerosis and includes highly prevalent diseases with unmet need such as UC and CD, and Zeposia received approval for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active UC from the FDA and EMA in 2021. The estimated global market for UC was approximately $5.4 billion in 2021, and the estimated global market for CD was approximately $5.4 billion in 2020. We believe that CBP-307 is well-positioned to potentially address these diseases due to the potency, specificity and pharmacokinetics observed in our preclinical studies and early clinical trials. We announced top-line results from our Phase 2 trial in UC in May 2022, and we intend to engage in partnership discussions for the future development of CBP-307 to focus resources on our lead program, CBP-201.
We are developing CBP-174, a peripherally acting, small molecule H3R antagonist, for oral administration to treat chronic itch associated with skin inflammation. We have exclusively licensed global rights to CBP-174 from Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Arena, to complement our CBP-201 program in AD. We believe that the ability to quickly alleviate itch in the setting of AD has the potential to complement the anti-pruritic effect of disease-modifying IL-4Ra antagonists such as our CBP-201 product candidate or dupilumab. In clinical trials, these IL-4Ra targeted products required weeks of treatment for many AD patients to obtain significant relief of itching, or pruritus. Our preclinical mouse model study has indicated that CBP-174 led to reductions in scratching within the first 30 minutes of dosing, which could potentially translate to rapid reduction in pruritus in the clinic. We expect to complete our Phase 1 dose escalation study with CBP-174 in healthy adults in the second half of 2022 and anticipate reporting top-line results in the second half of 2022.
We are building a rich pipeline of internally designed, wholly owned small molecules and antibodies targeting other aspects of T cell biology.
Organizational Structure
The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure as of the date of this prospectus:
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The following table illustrates the principal activities and percentage equity interest as of December 31, 2020 and 2021 for each of our subsidiaries:
| As of December 31, |
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| Name |
Principal activities |
Jurisdiction of incorporation |
2020 | 2021 | ||||||||
| Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited |
Investment holding | Hong Kong | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||
| Connect Biopharm LLC |
Pharmaceutical R&D | U.S. | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||
| Connect Biopharma Australia PTY LTD |
Pharmaceutical R&D | Australia | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||
| Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd. |
Pharmaceutical R&D | PRC | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||
| Connect Biopharma (Shanghai) Co., Ltd |
Pharmaceutical R&D | PRC | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||
| Connect Biopharma (Beijing) Co., Ltd |
Pharmaceutical R&D | PRC | 100 | % | 100 | % | ||||||
| Connect Biopharma (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd |
Dormant | PRC | — | % | 100 | % | ||||||
The Company was formed to acquire Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited. As the sole holder of equity in Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited, the Company operates the business and controls the strategic decisions and day-to-day operations of Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited. We have seven wholly owned subsidiaries.
Cash Transfer and Dividend Payment
We are a holding company that conducts its operations primarily through our various subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to pay dividends depends upon dividends paid to us by our subsidiaries. If our existing subsidiaries or any newly formed subsidiaries of our company incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, our PRC subsidiaries are permitted to pay dividends to us only out of their retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Under the PRC law, each of our PRC subsidiaries, and their subsidiaries are required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund specific statutory reserve funds until such reserve funds reach 50% of its registered capital. In addition, each of our PRC subsidiaries may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to staff welfare and bonus funds, a discretionary surplus fund and an enterprise expansion fund at its discretion or in accordance with its articles of association. These reserve funds and staff welfare and bonus funds are not distributable as cash dividends. Remittance of dividends by a wholly foreign-owned company out of the PRC is subject to examination by the banks designated by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE. Our PRC subsidiaries have not paid dividends and will not be able to pay dividends until they generate accumulated profits and meet the requirements for statutory reserve funds. As of December 31, 2021, the amount restricted, including paid-in capital, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations, was RMB 288.9 million.
Our cash (including the proceeds we will receive from this offering) is initially held at Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited bank accounts, and then it is used to fund the cash requirements of our operating subsidiaries. Internal cash transfers are approved by finance management team members prior to transfer. Our other cash management policies include a treasury policy that requires executive team approvals to open and close bank accounts, a purchase approval policy that provides approval limits based on job level, and an investment policy that provides guidelines on investments in financial securities.
Under PRC laws and regulations, there are restrictions on the Company’s PRC subsidiaries with respect to transferring some of their net assets to the Company either in the form of dividends, loans, or advances. Restricted net assets including paid-in capital and statutory reserve funds of the Company’s PRC subsidiaries was RMB 137.7 million as of December 31, 2020 and RMB 288.9 million as of December 31, 2021.
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The following table summarizes the cash transferred from our holding company to our operating subsidiaries:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2021 | ||||||||||
| RMB’000 | RMB’000 | USD’000 (1) | ||||||||||
| Cash Flow from Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited to: |
||||||||||||
| Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited |
202,497 | 672,529 | 105,483 | |||||||||
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Total cash transferred to operating subsidiaries |
202,497 | 672,529 | 105,483 | |||||||||
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|
|
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|
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| Connect Biopharma HongKong Limited to: |
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| Connect Biopharm LLC |
83,981 | 309,287 | 48,510 | |||||||||
| Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd. |
134,521 | 356,218 | 55,871 | |||||||||
| Connect Biopharma Australia PTY LTD |
30,017 | — | — | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Total cash transferred to operating subsidiaries |
248,519 | 665,505 | 104,381 | |||||||||
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|
|
|
|
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| (1) | USD1.00 = RMB6.3757. |
The amounts funded from Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd to other PRC subsidiaries were insignificant. There were no distributions, dividends or any other transfers out from any of the PRC entities to any of our entities outside of the PRC.
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our ADSs is subject to a number of risks, including risks related to doing business in the PRC, risks related to our limited operating history, financial position and capital requirements, risks related to the discovery, development and regulatory approval of our product candidates, risks related to our reliance on third parties, risks related to commercialization of our product candidates, risks related to our business operations and industry, risks related to intellectual property, and risks related to ownership of our ADSs. Investors should carefully consider all of the information in this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference herein and any accompanying prospectus supplement before making an investment in the ADSs. The following list summarizes some, but not all, of these risks. Please read the information in the section entitled “Risk Factors” for a more thorough description of these and other risks.
Risks Related to Doing Business in the PRC
| • | We could be adversely affected by rising political tensions and any potential conflicts between the United States and the PRC. |
| • | Changes in the political and economic policies of the PRC government may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and may result in our inability to sustain our growth and expansion strategies. |
| • | The PRC government may intervene in or influence our operations at any time, which could result in a material change in our operations and significantly and adversely impact the value of our ADSs. |
| • | In May 2022, we were conclusively identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the HFCAA. Consequently, as early as 2024, our ADSs will be delisted and our ADSs and shares prohibited from trading in the over-the-counter market under the HFCAA, if the PCAOB is unable to inspect or fully investigate our independent registered public accounting firm for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, and as a result the Nasdaq Global Market may make a determination to delist |
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| our securities. The trading prohibition could be accelerated to 2023 if the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act is enacted. |
| • | There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws, rules and regulations. |
| • | PRC government agencies may exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and non-PRC investment in PRC-based issuers. We face uncertainty about future actions by the PRC government that could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of our ADSs to significantly decline or be worthless. |
| • | Recent litigation, regulatory scrutiny and negative publicity surrounding PRC-based companies listed in the United States may result in increased regulatory scrutiny of us and negatively impact the trading price of our ADSs. |
| • | Our business benefits from financial incentives and discretionary policies granted by local governments in the PRC. Expiration, elimination or reduction of these incentives or policies would have an adverse effect on our results of operations. |
| • | We may be restricted from transferring our scientific data outside of the PRC. |
| • | Additional remedial measures could be imposed on PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings instituted by the SEC, as a result of which our consolidated financial statements may be determined to not be in compliance with SEC requirements |
| • | Investors may experience difficulties in effecting service of legal process, enforcing non-PRC judgments or bringing original actions in the PRC against our directors and officers who are located in the PRC. |
Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Position and Capital Requirements
| • | We have a limited operating history, have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We may never generate any revenue or become profitable or, if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain it. |
| • | We will require substantial additional financing to achieve our goals. |
Risks Related to the Discovery, Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates
| • | Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process, with an uncertain outcome. We may ultimately be unable to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates. |
| • | We depend on enrollment of patients in our clinical trials for our product candidates and may experience delays or difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials. |
| • | We have conducted and may continue to conduct clinical trials for our product candidates in sites outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in foreign locations. |
| • | Our approach to the discovery and development of product candidates is unproven, and we do not know whether we will be able to develop any products of commercial value. |
| • | We have never conducted later-stage clinical trials or submitted a New Drug Application, or NDA, or Biologics License Application, or BLA, and may be unable to do so for any of our product candidates. |
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
| • | We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties, including independent clinical investigators and contract research organizations, to conduct some aspects of our preclinical studies and clinical trials. |
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| • | We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical studies and our ongoing clinical trials. |
Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Product Candidates
| • | The commercial success of our product candidates will depend upon the degree of market acceptance of such product candidates by physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community. |
Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Industry
| • | We are subject to risks arising from COVID-19 and other epidemic diseases. |
| • | We are dependent on the services of our management and other clinical and scientific personnel, and if we are not able to retain these individuals or recruit additional management or clinical and scientific personnel, our business will suffer. |
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
| • | Our success depends on our ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies. |
Risks Related to Ownership of Our ADSs
| • | An active, liquid trading market for the ADSs may not be maintained, and you may not be able to resell your ADSs at or above the public offering price. |
| • | The trading price of our ADSs could be highly volatile, and purchasers of the ADSs could incur substantial losses. |
| • | We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. |
Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and a Foreign Private Issuer
Emerging Growth Company
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we may take advantage of specific exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other publicly traded entities that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include:
| • | not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; |
| • | not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (i.e., an auditor discussion and analysis); |
| • | not being required to submit some executive compensation matters to shareholder advisory votes, such as “say-on-pay,” “say-on-frequency” and “say-on-golden parachutes;” and |
| • | not being required to disclose some executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the chief executive officer’s compensation to median employee compensation. |
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As a result, we do not know if some investors will find our ADSs less attractive. The result may be a less active trading market for our ADSs, and the price of our ADSs may become more volatile.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of: (i) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our annual gross revenues exceed $1.07 billion; (ii) December 31, 2026; (iii) the date that we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter; or (iv) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt securities during any three-year period.
Foreign Private Issuer
We report under the Exchange Act as a non-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, as long as we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we will be exempt from specific provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. domestic public companies, including:
| • | the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; |
| • | the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and |
| • | the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specific information, or current reports on Form 8-K, upon the occurrence of specified significant events. |
In addition, we will not be required to file annual reports and consolidated financial statements with the SEC as promptly as U.S. domestic companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act, and we will not be required to comply with Regulation FD, which restricts the selective disclosure of material information.
Both foreign private issuers and emerging growth companies also are exempt from some more stringent executive compensation disclosure rules. Thus, even if we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, but remain a foreign private issuer, we will continue to be exempt from the more stringent compensation disclosures required of companies that are neither an emerging growth company nor a foreign private issuer.
We may take advantage of these exemptions until such time as we are no longer a foreign private issuer. We will remain a foreign private issuer until such time that more than 50% of our outstanding voting securities are held by U.S. residents and any of the following three circumstances applies: (1) the majority of our executive officers or directors are U.S. citizens or residents; (2) more than 50% of our assets are located in the United States; or (3) our business is administered principally in the United States.
General Information
We are not a Chinese operating company but a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. As a holding company with no material operations of our own, we conduct operations primarily through our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, some of which were established in the PRC. The securities offered in this prospectus are securities of our Cayman Islands holding company, not of our operating subsidiaries.
We are subject to certain legal and operational risks associated with our subsidiaries’ operations in the PRC. PRC laws and regulations governing our current business operations are sometimes vague and uncertain. Recently, the PRC government initiated a series of regulatory actions and statements to regulate business
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operations in the PRC with little advance notice. Therefore, these risks may result in a material negative change in our subsidiaries’ operations, significant depreciation of the value of our ADSs, or a complete hindrance of our ability to offer or continue to offer our securities to investors, which could cause the value of your securities to become worthless. See “Risk Factors — PRC government agencies may exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and non-PRC investment in PRC-based issuers. We face uncertainty about future actions by the PRC government that could significantly affect our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and could significantly negatively affect the value of our ADSs.” and “Risk Factors — Changes in the political and economic policies of the PRC government may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and may result in our inability to sustain our growth and expansion strategies.”
For example, on December 24, 2021, the CSRC released the draft Administrative Provisions on the Offshore Listing and Securities Issuance of PRC-Based Companies and the draft Administrative Measures on the Filing of Offshore Listing and Securities Issuance of PRC-Based Companies for public comments through January 23, 2022 (collectively, the “CSRC Draft Rules”). Under the CSRC Draft Rules (if enacted), an overseas-listed issuer must complete a filing for a follow-on offering with the CSRC within three business days upon the completion of the follow-on offering and will be prohibited from offering securities on foreign exchanges under certain circumstances. See “Risk Factors — The approval of the CSRC may be required under a PRC regulation in connection with any future offerings of our securities in the U.S. market. The regulation also establishes more complex procedures for acquisitions conducted by non-PRC investors that could make it more difficult for us to grow through acquisitions.” Considering that the CSRC Draft Rules have not come into effect, based on the advice of our outside PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, we believe this offering is not subject to the approval of the CSRC according to currently effective PRC laws, regulations and rules. According to the information released by the CSRC officials upon the publication of the CSRC Draft Rules, the filing requirements proposed under the said rules will apply to future offerings and listings, and existing overseas-listed companies will be given a transition period in which to comply. This means that, if we complete the proposed offering before the effectiveness of the CSRC Draft Rules, we could be subject to the filing requirements with the CSRC only in connection with any future offerings, or we could be granted a transition period to complete the filing procedure with respect to previously completed offerings. However, given that (i) it is uncertain whether the CSRC Draft Rules will take effect as currently drafted, and (ii) PRC governmental authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory provisions and there remains significant uncertainty in the interpretation and enforcement of the CSRC Draft Rules, we cannot assure you that we will not be required to comply with the filing requirements under the CSRC Draft Rules if the CSRC Draft Rules are adopted into law in the future or if the PRC regulatory authorities take a position contrary to ours. If we are required to comply with the filing requirements under the CSRC Draft Rules, it is uncertain whether we could complete such filing procedures on a timely manner, if at all.
Additionally, on December 28, 2021, the Chinese government promulgated amended Cybersecurity Review Measures (the “2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures”), which came into effect on February 15, 2022. According to the 2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures, (i) critical information infrastructure operators (“CIIOs”) that purchase network products and services and internet platform operators that conduct data processing activities shall be subject to cybersecurity review in accordance with the 2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures if such activities affect or may affect national security; and (ii) internet platform operators holding personal information of more than one million users and seeking to have their securities list on a stock exchange in a foreign country shall file for cybersecurity review with the Cybersecurity Review Office. The 2022 Cybersecurity Review Measures remain unclear on whether the relevant requirements will be applicable to the follow-on offerings of companies that have completed initial public offerings on overseas stock exchanges. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not been informed by any PRC government agency that we qualify as a CIIO or internet platform operator, and we are not in possession of more than one million users’ personal information. Further, we have not been involved in any cybersecurity-related investigation initiated by the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) or any other PRC government authority, and have not received
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any cybersecurity-related warning or sanction from the PRC government authorities, or any notice from relevant authorities requesting that we file for the cybersecurity review. Therefore, based on the advice of Han Kun Law Offices, we are of the view that we are unlikely to be subject to such ex-ante cybersecurity review arising from the contemplated offering. The CAC, however, has the discretion to initiate cybersecurity review on data processing activities which are deemed to affect or may affect national security. Thus, we cannot preclude the possibility that we would be subject to ex officio cybersecurity reviews by the CAC, and it is uncertain whether being listed in the United States would increase such possibility. If we are subject to such cybersecurity review, we may be ordered to suspend business or discontinue the development of new product candidates or business partnerships, among other things, pending completion of the review. If we fail to pass the cybersecurity review, we may face penalties such as fines, suspension of business, closure of websites, or revocation of relevant business licenses and permits, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. See “Risk Factors — Compliance with the PRC’s new Data Security Law, Cybersecurity Review Measures, Personal Information Protection Law, regulations and guidelines relating to the multi-level protection scheme and any other future laws and regulations may entail significant expenses and could materially affect our business.”
Our PRC subsidiaries have obtained all necessary licenses and approvals to conduct our operations in China and, to date, no application for any such licenses and approvals has been denied. Based on the advice of Han Kun Law Offices, we believe that according to the currently effective PRC laws, regulations and rules as of the date of this prospectus, we and our PRC subsidiaries are not subject to any permission requirements from the CSRC, the CAC or other governmental agency that is required for this offering. However, we cannot assure you that relevant PRC governmental agencies, including the CSRC and CAC, would reach the same conclusion as we do, or such PRC governmental authorities would not promulgate new rules or new interpretation of current rules to require us to obtain the approval of CSRC or other PRC governmental for this offering. If we fail to receive any requisite permission or approval from the CSRC, CAC or other PRC regulatory authorities for this offering or our operations, or the waiver of such permission or approval, in a timely manner, or at all, or inadvertently conclude that such permissions or approvals are not required, or if applicable laws, regulations, or interpretations change and obligate us to obtain such permission or approvals in the future, we may be subject to fines and penalties, suspension or limitations on our business activities in China, revocation of our business licenses, website closure, delay or restrictions on the contribution of the proceeds from this offering into the PRC, or other sanctions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, reputation and prospects. In addition, the CSRC, CAC or other PRC regulatory agencies may also take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, to halt this offering or any future offerings. Consequently, if you engage in market trading or other activities in anticipation of and prior to the settlement and delivery of the securities we are offering, you would be doing so at the risk that the settlement and delivery may not occur.
In addition, as early as 2024, our securities will be prohibited from trading on a national exchange or over-the-counter under the HFCAA, if the PCAOB is unable to inspect or fully investigate our independent registered public accounting firm located in China for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, and as a result the Nasdaq Global Market may make a determination to delist our securities. The trading prohibition could be accelerated to 2023 if the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act is enacted. Our independent registered public accounting firm that issued the audit report included in our annual report filed with the SEC, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB is required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because we have substantial operations within the PRC and the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct full inspections of the work of our independent registered public accounting firm as it relates to those operations without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our independent registered public accounting firm is not currently inspected by the PCAOB. This lack of PCAOB inspections in the PRC prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our independent registered public accounting firm’s audits and its quality control procedures, and our independent registered public accounting firm is therefore
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subject to the determinations announced by the PCAOB on December 16, 2021. As a result, investors are deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.
Corporate Information
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company incorporated with limited liability and were incorporated in November 2015. Our legal name is Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited and our commercial name is Connect Biopharma. Prior to this, our business was conducted by Suzhou Connect Biopharma Co., Ltd., or Connect SZ, which was incorporated in May 2012 in Suzhou in the PRC. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. Our administration office and agent for service of process in the United States is located at 12265 El Camino Real, Suite 350, San Diego, California 92130. Our principal executive office and PRC research, development and administration facility are located at Science and Technology Park, East R&D Building, 3rd Floor, 6 Beijing West Road, Taicang, Jiangsu, China 215400, and its telephone number is +86 512 5357 7866. Our website address is www.connectbiopharm.com. The information contained on, or accessible through, our website does not constitute a part of this prospectus. We have included our website address in this prospectus solely as an inactive textual reference. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.
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| ADSs offered by us in the offering |
ADSs, each ADS representing one Ordinary Share, par value $0.000174 per share, having an aggregate offering price of up to $150.0 million. |
| The ADSs |
Each ADS represents one Ordinary Share. The ADSs initially will be delivered by Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as depositary (the “Depositary”). |
| The Depositary, as depositary, or its nominee, will be the holder of the Ordinary Shares underlying your ADSs and you will have rights as provided in the Deposit Agreement, dated as of March 18, 2021, among us, the Depositary and all owners and holders from time to time of ADSs issued thereunder (the “Deposit Agreement”). |
| Subject to the terms of the Deposit Agreement and in compliance with the relevant requirements set out in the prospectus, you may turn in your ADSs to the Depositary for cancellation and withdrawal of the Ordinary Shares underlying your ADSs. |
| The Depositary will charge you fees for such cancellations pursuant to the Deposit Agreement. |
| You should carefully read the “Description of American Depositary Shares” section of this prospectus and the Deposit Agreement to better understand the terms of the ADSs. |
| Manner of Offering |
“At the market” offering that may be made from time to time through our sales agents, SVB Securities and Cantor. See “Plan of Distribution.” |
| Use of Proceeds |
We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, to fund our pipeline development, to maintain our working capital, and for general corporate purposes. |
| Listing |
The ADSs are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “CNTB”. |
| Risk Factors |
Before deciding to invest in the ADSs, you should carefully consider the risks related to our business, the offering and our securities. See “Risk Factors” on page S-15 of this prospectus and under similar headings in other documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus. |
| Depositary |
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas |
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Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully review the risks and uncertainties described below and under the section titled “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and any subsequent Annual Report on Form 20-F or reports on Form 6-K we file after the date of this prospectus, and all other information contained or incorporated by reference into this prospectus, as updated by our subsequent filings under the Exchange Act, before acquiring any of such securities. The occurrence of any of these risks might cause you to lose all or part of your investment in the offered securities
Risks Related to the Offering
We will have broad discretion in how to use the net proceeds of this offering, and we may not use these proceeds in a manner desired by our investors.
We will have broad discretion as to the use of the net proceeds from this offering and could use them for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of this offering. Accordingly, you will be relying on the judgment of our management with regard to the use of these net proceeds, and you will not have the opportunity as part of your investment decision to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. Our needs may change as the business and the industry that we address evolves. As a result, the proceeds to be received in this offering may be used in a manner significantly different from our current expectations. It is possible that the proceeds will be invested in a way that does not yield a favorable, or any, return. The failure of our management to use such funds effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flow.
It is not possible to predict the number of ADSs sold under the Sales Agreement.
Subject to certain limitations in the Sales Agreement and compliance with applicable law, we have the discretion to deliver a placement notice to the Sales Agents at any time throughout the term of the Sales Agreement. The number of ADSs that are sold through the Sales Agents after our delivery of a placement notice will fluctuate based on a number of factors, including the market price of the ADSs during the sales period, any limits we may set with the Sales Agents in any applicable placement notice and the demand for the ADSs. If the market price of our ADSs during the sales period declines, we would be able to potentially sell a higher number of ADSs than the number based on the current market price of our ADSs and, in any event, we may choose to sell a lower number of ADSs than the $150.0 million of our ADSs set forth on the cover of this prospectus.
The ADSs offered hereby will be sold in “at-the-market offerings” and investors who buy ADSs at different times will likely pay different prices.
Investors who purchase ADSs in this offering at different times likely will pay different prices, and accordingly may experience different levels of dilution and different outcomes in their investment results. We will have discretion, subject to market demand, to vary the timing, prices and number of ADSs sold in this offering. In addition, subject to the final determination by our board of directors or any restrictions we may place in any applicable placement notice, there is no minimum or maximum sales price for ADSs to be sold in this offering. Investors may experience a decline in the value of the ADSs they purchase in this offering as a result of sales made at prices lower than the prices they paid.
You may experience immediate and substantial dilution in the book value per ADS you purchase.
The offering price per ADS in this offering may exceed the net tangible book value per ADS outstanding prior to this offering. If holders of outstanding options exercise those options at prices below the price you pay, you would experience further dilution. Because the sales of the ADSs offered hereby will be made directly into the market, the prices at which we sell these ADSs will vary and these variations may be significant. Purchasers of the ADSs we sell, as well as holders of our existing ADSs, will experience significant dilution if we sell ADSs at prices significantly below the price at which they invested.
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ADSs representing a substantial percentage of our outstanding shares may be sold in this offering and such ADSs will be freely tradable, which could cause the price of the ADSs to decline.
A substantial number of the ADSs may be sold in the public market in this offering, and all of the ADSs sold in the offering will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act. These sales, and any future sales of a substantial number of ADSs in the public market, or the perception that such sales may occur, may cause the market price of the ADSs to decline. This could make it more difficult for you to sell your ADSs at a time and price that you deem appropriate and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.
You may experience future dilution as a result of future equity offerings.
To raise additional capital, we may in the future offer additional ADSs, Ordinary Shares or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for the ADSs or our Ordinary Shares at prices that may not be the same as the price per ADS in this offering. We may sell ADSs, Ordinary Shares or other securities in any other offering at a price that is less than the price paid by investors in this offering, and investors purchasing ADSs or other securities in the future could have rights superior to the rights of ADSs holders. After this offering is completed, the base prospectus will remain available to cover the future public offering and sale of $150,000,000 of our ADSs and, if no ADSs are sold in this offering, the full $300,000,000 of our ADSs may be sold in other offerings pursuant to the base prospectus. The price at which we sell ADSs, Ordinary Shares or securities convertible or exchangeable into ADSs or Ordinary Shares, in future transactions may be higher or lower than the price per ADS paid by investors in this offering.
We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders of our ADSs or Ordinary Shares.
We would be classified as a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for any taxable year if, after the application of specific look-through rules, either: (i) 75% or more of our gross income for such year is “passive income” (as defined in the relevant provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended) (the income test), or (ii) 50% or more of the value of our assets (generally determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income (the asset test). We do not believe we were a PFIC for our 2021 taxable year. However, due to the high volatility of the current equity markets and our holding of a significant amount of cash, we are not certain whether we will be treated as a PFIC for the current taxable year or in the foreseeable future. PFIC determinations are highly factual and must be made annually after the close of each taxable year, and the application of the PFIC rules is subject to uncertainty in several respects. Moreover, the value of our assets for purposes of the PFIC determination will generally be determined by reference to the market price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs, which could fluctuate significantly. Therefore, there is no assurance we will not be a PFIC for the current taxable year or in the foreseeable future. Adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Material Tax Considerations—United States Federal Income Taxation Considerations”) if we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which such U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or Ordinary Shares.
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We may sell ADSs from time to time having gross aggregate sales proceeds of up to $150.0 million. Because there is no minimum offering amount required as a condition of this offering, the actual total public offering amount, estimated commissions and proceeds to us, if any, are not determinable at this time. There can be no assurance that we will be able to sell any ADSs under or fully utilize the Sales Agreement with the Sales Agents as a source of financing.
We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, to fund our pipeline development, to maintain our working capital, and for general corporate purposes.
The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures will depend upon numerous factors, including the progress of our development and commercialization efforts, the status of and results from our clinical, non-clinical or pre-clinical trials, whether or not we enter into strategic collaborations or partnerships, and our operating costs and expenditures. Accordingly, our management will have significant flexibility in applying the net proceeds of this offering. In addition, while we have not entered into any outstanding binding agreements or commitments relating to any significant transaction as of the date of this prospectus, we may use a portion of the net proceeds to pursue acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions.
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The table below sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of December 31, 2021, the latest date for which we have audited financial statements and the information below available to us:
| • | on an actual basis; |
| • | on a pro forma basis to reflect the issuance and sale of $150,000,000 of ADSs in this offering at an assumed offering price of $0.70 per ADS, the last reported sale price of our ADSs on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 16, 2022, after deducting the estimated commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. |
The pro forma information below is illustrative only, and our capitalization following the completion of this offering will be adjusted based on the actual offering price, the actual number of ADSs offered by us and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. You should read this table in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus and “Use of Proceeds,” “Selected Consolidated Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
The following information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus. For more details on how you can obtain the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, see “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation of Information by Reference.”
| As of December 31, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||
| Actual | Pro Forma | |||||||||||||||
| RMB’000 | USD’000 (1) | RMB’000 | USD’000 (1) | |||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents |
1,706,880 | 267,716 | 2,632,947 | 412,966 | ||||||||||||
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
| Shareholders’ equity |
||||||||||||||||
| Share capital |
66 | 10 | 301 | 47 | ||||||||||||
| Share premium |
4,094,434 | 642,194 | 5,020,269 | 787,407 | ||||||||||||
| Treasury shares |
(1,164 | ) | (183 | ) | (1,164) | (183) | ||||||||||
| Share-based compensation reserves |
61,904 | 9,709 | 61,904 | 9,709 | ||||||||||||
| Other reserves |
(41,244 | ) | (6,469 | ) | (41,244) | (6,469) | ||||||||||
| Accumulated losses |
(2,378,165 | ) | (373,004 | ) | (2,378,165) | (373,004) | ||||||||||
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
| Total shareholders’ equity |
1,735,831 | 272,257 | 2,661,901 | 417,507 | ||||||||||||
| Total capitalization |
1,735,831 | 272,257 | 2,661,901 | 417,507 | ||||||||||||
| (1) | USD1.00 = RMB6.3757. |
The number of our Ordinary Shares (including Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs) to be outstanding after this offering is based on 55,076,319 Ordinary Shares outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and excludes:
| • | 3,748,389 Ordinary Shares issuable upon the exercise of share options outstanding as of December 31, 2021 at a weighted-average exercise price of $10.85 per Ordinary Share; |
| • | 2,044,741 Ordinary Shares issuable upon the exercise of share options granted after December 31, 2021 at a weighted-average exercise price of $4.45 per Ordinary Share; |
| • | 2,538,394 Ordinary Shares reserved for future issuance under our 2021 Stock Incentive Plan; and |
| • | 600,000 Ordinary Shares reserved for future issuance under our 2021 Employee Share Purchase Plan. |
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We are a Cayman Islands exempted company incorporated with limited liability and our affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, as amended from time to time, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, which we refer to as the Companies Act below and the common law of the Cayman Islands.
As of the date of this prospectus, our authorized share capital is $76,560, divided into 440,000,000 shares comprised of (i) 400,000,000 ordinary shares, par value $0.000174 per share, and (ii) 40,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.000174 per share, of such class or classes (however designated) as the board of directors may determine in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. As of the date of this prospectus, 55,015,779 ordinary shares were issued and outstanding. All of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares are fully paid.
Our Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
The following are summaries of material provisions of our current amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that became effective immediately prior to the completion of our initial public offering, or IPO, in March 2021, insofar as they relate to the material terms of our ordinary shares.
Objects of Our Company
Under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the objects of our company are unrestricted and we have the full power and authority to carry out any object not prohibited by the law of the Cayman Islands.
Ordinary Shares
Our ordinary shares are issued in registered form and are issued when registered in our register of members (shareholders). We may not issue shares to bearer. Our shareholders who are nonresidents of the Cayman Islands may freely hold and vote their shares. Each ordinary share shall entitle the holder thereof to one vote on all matters subject to vote at our general meetings.
Dividends
The holders of our ordinary shares are entitled to such dividends as may be declared by our board of directors. In addition, our shareholders may declare dividends by ordinary resolution, but no dividend shall exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Our amended and restated memorandum and restated articles of association provide that our directors may, before recommending or declaring any dividend, set aside out of the funds legally available for distribution such sums as they think proper as a reserve or reserves which shall, in the absolute discretion of the directors, be applicable for meeting contingencies or for equalizing dividends or for any other purpose to which those funds may be properly applied. Under the laws of the Cayman Islands, our company may pay a dividend out of either profit or our share premium account, provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in our company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business.
Voting Rights
Each ordinary share shall be entitled to one vote on all matters subject to a vote at general meetings of our company. Voting at any shareholders’ meeting is by show of hands unless a poll is demanded (before or on the declaration of the result of the show of hands). A poll may be demanded by the chairman of such meeting or by any one or more shareholders who together hold not less than 10% of the votes attaching to the total number of ordinary shares which are present in person or by proxy at the meeting.
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An ordinary resolution to be passed at a meeting by the shareholders requires the affirmative vote of a simple majority of the votes attaching to the ordinary shares which are cast at a meeting, while a special resolution requires the affirmative vote of no less than two-thirds of the votes attaching to the ordinary shares which are cast at a meeting. A special resolution will be required for important matters such as a change of name or making changes to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our company may, among other things, divide or combine our ordinary shares, by an ordinary resolution of our shareholders.
General Meetings of Shareholders
As a Cayman Islands exempted company, we are not obliged by the Companies Act to call shareholders’ annual general meetings. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we may (but are not obliged to) in each year hold a general meeting as our annual general meeting in which case we shall specify the meeting as such in the notices calling it, and the annual general meeting shall be held at such time and place as may be determined by our directors.
Shareholders’ general meetings may be convened by the chairman of our board of directors or by a majority of our directors (acting by a resolution of the board). Advance notice of at least ten calendar days is required for the convening of our annual general shareholders’ meeting (if any) and any other general meeting of our shareholders. A quorum required for any general meeting of shareholders consists of one or more shareholders present in person or by proxy, holding shares which carry in aggregate not less than one-third of all votes attaching to all of our shares in issue and entitled to vote at such general meeting.
The Companies Act provides shareholders with only limited rights to requisition a general meeting, and does not provide shareholders with any right to put any proposal before a general meeting. However, these rights may be provided in a company’s articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that upon the requisition of shareholders holding shares which carry in aggregate not less than one-third of the votes attaching to the issued and outstanding shares of our company entitled to vote at general meetings, our board will convene an extraordinary general meeting and put the resolutions so requisitioned to a vote at such meeting. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association do not provide our shareholders with any right to put any proposals before annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings not called by such shareholders.
Transfer of Ordinary Shares
Subject to the restrictions set out below, any of our shareholders may transfer all or any of his or her ordinary shares by an instrument of transfer in the usual or common form or any other form approved by our board of directors.
Our board of directors may, in its absolute discretion, decline to register any transfer of any ordinary share which is not fully paid up or on which we have a lien. Our board of directors may also decline to register any transfer of any ordinary share unless:
| • | the instrument of transfer is lodged with us, accompanied by the certificate for the ordinary shares to which it relates and such other evidence as our board of directors may reasonably require to show the right of the transferor to make the transfer; |
| • | the instrument of transfer is in respect of only one class of ordinary shares; |
| • | the instrument of transfer is properly stamped, if required; |
| • | in the case of a transfer to joint holders, the number of joint holders to whom the ordinary share is to be transferred does not exceed four; and |
| • | a fee of such maximum sum as the Nasdaq Global Market may determine to be payable or such lesser sum as our directors may from time to time require is paid to us in respect thereof. |
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If our directors refuse to register a transfer they shall, within three months after the date on which the instrument of transfer was lodged, send to each of the transferor and the transferee notice of such refusal.
The registration of transfers may, after compliance with any notice required of the Nasdaq Global Market, be suspended and the register closed at such times and for such periods as our board of directors may from time to time determine, provided, however, that the registration of transfers shall not be suspended nor the register closed for more than 30 calendar days in any calendar year.
Liquidation
On the winding up of our company, if the assets available for distribution amongst our shareholders shall be more than sufficient to repay the whole of the share capital at the commencement of the winding up, the surplus shall be distributed amongst our shareholders in proportion to the par value of the shares held by them at the commencement of the winding up, subject to a deduction from those shares in respect of which there are monies due, of all monies payable to our company for unpaid calls or otherwise. If our assets available for distribution are insufficient to repay the whole of the share capital, the assets will be distributed so that the losses are borne by our shareholders in proportion to the par value of the shares held by them.
Calls on Shares and Forfeiture of Shares
Our board of directors may from time to time make calls upon shareholders for any amounts unpaid on their shares in a notice served to such shareholders at least 14 days prior to the specified time and place of payment. The shares that have been called upon and remain unpaid are subject to forfeiture.
Redemption, Repurchase and Surrender of Shares
We may issue shares on terms that such shares are subject to redemption, at our option or at the option of the holders of these shares, on such terms and in such manner as may be determined by our board of directors. Our company may also repurchase any of our shares on such terms and in such manner as have been approved by our board of directors or by an ordinary resolution of our shareholders. Under the Companies Act, the redemption or repurchase of any share may be paid out of our profits or out of the proceeds of a new issue of shares made for the purpose of such redemption or repurchase, or out of capital (including share premium account and capital redemption reserve) if our company can, immediately following such payment, pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. In addition, under the Companies Act no such share may be redeemed or repurchased (a) unless it is fully paid up, (b) if such redemption or repurchase would result in there being no shares outstanding or (c) if our company has commenced liquidation. In addition, our company may accept the surrender of any fully paid share for no consideration.
Variations of Rights of Shares
If at any time, our share capital is divided into different classes or series of shares, the rights attached to any class or series of shares (unless otherwise provided by the terms of issue of the shares of that class or series), whether or not our company is being wound-up, may be varied with the consent in writing of the holders of two-thirds of the issued shares of that class or series or with the sanction of a special resolution passed at a separate meeting of the holders of the shares of that class or series. The rights conferred upon the holders of the shares of any class issued with preferred or other rights shall not, subject to any rights or restrictions for the time being attached to the shares of that class, be deemed to be varied by the creation, allotment or issue of further shares ranking pari passu with or subsequent to such existing class of shares or the redemption or purchase of any shares of any class by our company. The rights of the holders of shares shall not be deemed to be materially adversely varied by the creation or issue of shares with preferred or other rights including, without limitation, the creation of shares with enhanced or weighted voting rights.
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Issuance of Additional Shares
Our amended and restated memorandum of association authorizes our board of directors to issue additional ordinary shares from time to time as our board of directors shall determine, to the extent of available authorized but unissued shares.
Our amended and restated memorandum of association also authorizes our board of directors to establish from time to time one or more series of preference shares and to determine, with respect to any series of preference shares, the terms and rights of that series, including:
| • | the designation of the series; |
| • | the number of shares of the series; |
| • | the dividend rights, dividend rates, conversion rights, voting rights; and |
| • | the rights and terms of redemption and liquidation preferences. |
Our board of directors may issue preference shares without action by our shareholders to the extent authorized but unissued. Issuance of these shares may dilute the voting power of holders of ordinary shares.
Inspection of Books and Records
Holders of our ordinary shares have no general right under Cayman Islands law to inspect or obtain copies of our list of shareholders or our corporate records (except for the memorandum and articles of association, special resolutions which have been passed by our shareholders, our register of mortgages and charges and a list of our current directors). However, we will provide our shareholders with annual audited consolidated financial statements. See “Where You Can Find More Information.”
Anti-Takeover Provisions
Some provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or management that shareholders may consider favorable, including provisions that:
| • | authorize our board of directors to issue preference shares in one or more series and to designate the price, rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of such preference shares without any further vote or action by our shareholders; and |
| • | limit the ability of shareholders to requisition and convene general meetings of shareholders. |
However, under Cayman Islands law, our directors may only exercise the rights and powers granted to them under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association for a proper purpose and for what they believe in good faith to be in the best interests of our company.
Exempted Company
We are an exempted company with limited liability under the Companies Act. The Companies Act distinguishes between ordinary resident companies and exempted companies. Any company that is registered in the Cayman Islands but conducts business mainly outside of the Cayman Islands may apply to be registered as an exempted company. The requirements for an exempted company are essentially the same as for an ordinary company except that an exempted company:
| • | does not have to file an annual return of its shareholders with the Registrar of Companies; |
| • | the statutory provisions as to the required majority vote have been met; |
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| • | is not required to open its register of members for inspection; |
| • | does not have to hold an annual general meeting; |
| • | may issue shares with no par value; |
| • | may obtain an undertaking against the imposition of any future taxation (such undertakings are usually given for 20 years in the first instance); |
| • | may register by way of continuation in another jurisdiction and be deregistered in the Cayman Islands; |
| • | may register as a limited duration company; and |
| • | may register as a segregated portfolio company. |
“Limited liability” means that the liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount unpaid by the shareholder on the shares of the company (except in exceptional circumstances, such as involving fraud, the establishment of an agency relationship or an illegal or improper purpose or other circumstances in which a court may be prepared to pierce or lift the corporate veil).
Differences in Corporate Law
The Companies Act of the Cayman Islands is derived, to a large extent, from the older Companies Acts of England but does not follow recent English statutory enactments and accordingly there are significant differences between the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands and the current Companies Act of England. In addition, the Companies Act differs from laws applicable to U.S. corporations and their shareholders. Set forth below is a summary of certain significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders.
Mergers and Similar Arrangements
The Companies Act permits mergers and consolidations between Cayman Islands companies and between Cayman Islands companies and non-Cayman Islands companies. For these purposes, (i) “merger” means the merging of two or more constituent companies and the vesting of their undertaking, property and liabilities in one of such companies as the surviving company, and (ii) a “consolidation” means the combination of two or more constituent companies into a consolidated company and the vesting of the undertaking, property and liabilities of such companies to the consolidated company. In order to effect such a merger or consolidation, the directors of each constituent company must approve a written plan of merger or consolidation, which must then be authorized by (a) a special resolution of the shareholders of each constituent company, and (b) such other authorization, if any, as may be specified in such constituent company’s articles of association. The written plan of merger or consolidation must be filed with the Registrar of Companies of the Cayman Islands together with a declaration as to the solvency of the consolidated or surviving company, a list of the assets and liabilities of each constituent company and an undertaking that a copy of the certificate of merger or consolidation will be given to the members and creditors of each constituent company and that notification of the merger or consolidation will be published in the Cayman Islands Gazette. Court approval is not required for a merger or consolidation which is effected in compliance with these statutory procedures.
A merger between a Cayman parent company and its Cayman subsidiary or subsidiaries does not require authorization by a resolution of shareholders of that Cayman subsidiary if a copy of the plan of merger is given to every member of that Cayman subsidiary to be merged unless that member agrees otherwise. For this purpose, a company is a “parent” of a subsidiary if it holds issued shares that together represent at least ninety percent (90%) of the votes at a general meeting of the subsidiary.
The consent of each holder of a fixed or floating security interest over a constituent company is required unless this requirement is waived by a court in the Cayman Islands.
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Save in some limited circumstances, a shareholder of a Cayman constituent company who dissents from the merger or consolidation is entitled to payment of the fair value of his shares (which, if not agreed between the parties, will be determined by the Cayman Islands court) upon dissenting to the merger or consolidation, provide the dissenting shareholder complies strictly with the procedures set out in the Companies Act. The exercise of dissenter rights will preclude the exercise by the dissenting shareholder of any other rights to which he or she might otherwise be entitled by virtue of holding shares, save for the right to seek relief on the grounds that the merger or consolidation is void or unlawful.
Separate from the statutory provisions relating to mergers and consolidations, the Companies Act also contains statutory provisions that facilitate the reconstruction and amalgamation of companies by way of schemes of arrangement, provided that the arrangement is approved by a majority in number of each class of shareholders and creditors with whom the arrangement is to be made, and who must in addition represent three-fourths in value of each such class of shareholders or creditors, as the case may be, that are present and voting either in person or by proxy at a meeting, or meetings, convened for that purpose. The convening of the meetings and subsequently the arrangement must be sanctioned by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. While a dissenting shareholder has the right to express to the court the view that the transaction ought not to be approved, the court can be expected to approve the arrangement if it determines that:
| • | the statutory provisions as to the required majority vote have been met; |
| • | the shareholders have been fairly represented at the meeting in question and the statutory majority are acting bona fide without coercion of the minority to promote interests adverse to those of the class; |
| • | the arrangement is such that may be reasonably approved by an intelligent and honest man of that class acting in respect of his interest; and |
| • | the arrangement is not one that would more properly be sanctioned under some other provision of the Companies Act. |
The Companies Act also contains a statutory power of compulsory acquisition which may facilitate the “squeeze out” of dissentient minority shareholders upon a tender offer. When a tender offer is made and accepted by holders of 90.0% of the shares affected within four months, the offeror may, within a two-month period commencing on the expiration of such four month period, require the holders of the remaining shares to transfer such shares to the offeror on the terms of the offer. An objection can be made to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands but this is unlikely to succeed in the case of an offer which has been so approved unless there is evidence of fraud, bad faith or collusion.
If an arrangement and reconstruction by way of scheme of arrangement is thus approved and sanctioned, or if a tender offer is made and accepted, a dissenting shareholder would have no rights comparable to appraisal rights, which would otherwise ordinarily be available to dissenting shareholders of Delaware corporations, providing rights to receive payment in cash for the judicially determined value of the shares.
Shareholders’ Suits
In principle, we will normally be the proper plaintiff to sue for a wrong done to us as a company, and as a general rule a derivative action may not be brought by a minority shareholder. However, based on English authorities, which would in all likelihood be of persuasive authority in the Cayman Islands, the Cayman Islands court can be expected to follow and apply the common law principles (namely the rule in Foss v. Harbottle and the exceptions thereto) so that a non-controlling shareholder may be permitted to commence a class action against or derivative actions in the name of the company to challenge actions where:
| • | the act complained of, although not ultra vires, could only be effected duly if authorized by more than a simple majority vote that has not been obtained; and |
| • | those who control the company are perpetrating a “fraud on the minority.” |
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Indemnification of Directors and Executive Officers and Limitation of Liability
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we shall indemnify our officers and directors against all actions, proceedings, costs, charges, expenses, losses, damages or liabilities incurred or sustained by such directors or officer, other than by reason of such person’s dishonesty, willful default or fraud, in or about the conduct of our company’s business or affairs (including as a result of any mistake of judgment) or in the execution or discharge of his or her duties, powers, authorities or discretions, including without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any costs, expenses, losses or liabilities incurred by such director or officer in defending (whether successfully or otherwise) any civil proceedings concerning our company or its affairs in any court whether in the Cayman Islands or elsewhere. This standard of conduct is generally the same as permitted under the Delaware General Corporation Law for a Delaware corporation.
In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and specific executive officers that provide such persons with additional indemnification beyond that provided in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers or persons controlling us under the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
Directors’ Fiduciary Duties
Under Delaware corporate law, a director of a Delaware corporation has a fiduciary duty to the corporation and its shareholders. This duty has two components: the duty of care and the duty of loyalty. The duty of care requires that a director act in good faith, with the care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise under similar circumstances. Under this duty, a director must inform himself of, and disclose to shareholders, all material information reasonably available regarding a significant transaction. The duty of loyalty requires that a director acts in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation. He or she must not use their corporate position for personal gain or advantage. This duty prohibits self-dealing by a director and mandates that the best interest of the corporation and its shareholders take precedence over any interest possessed by a director, officer or controlling shareholder and not shared by the shareholders generally. In general, actions of a director are presumed to have been made on an informed basis, in good faith and in the honest belief that the action taken was in the best interests of the corporation. However, this presumption may be rebutted by evidence of a breach of one of the fiduciary duties. Should such evidence be presented concerning a transaction by a director, the director must prove the procedural fairness of the transaction, and that the transaction was of fair value to the corporation.
As a matter of Cayman Islands law, a director of a Cayman Islands company is in the position of a fiduciary with respect to the company and therefore it is considered that he or she owes the following duties to the company—a duty to act bona fide in the best interests of the company, a duty not to make a profit based on his or her position as director (unless the company permits them to do so), a duty not to put himself or herself in a position where the interests of the company conflict with his or personal interest or his duty to a third party, and a duty to exercise powers for the purpose for which such powers were intended. A director of a Cayman Islands company owes to the company a duty to act with skill and care. It was previously considered that a director need not exhibit in the performance of his or her duties a greater degree of skill than may reasonably be expected from a person of his knowledge and experience. However, English and Commonwealth courts have moved towards an objective standard with regard to the required skill and care and these authorities are likely to be followed in the Cayman Islands.
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Shareholder Action by Written Resolution
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation may eliminate the right of shareholders to act by written consent by amendment to its certificate of incorporation. Cayman Islands law and our amended and restated articles of association provide that our shareholders may approve corporate matters by way of a unanimous written resolution signed by or on behalf of each shareholder who would have been entitled to vote on such matter at a general meeting without a meeting being held.
Shareholder Proposals
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a shareholder has the right to put any proposal before the annual meeting of shareholders, provided it complies with the notice provisions in the governing documents. A special meeting may be called by the board of directors or any other person authorized to do so in the governing documents, but shareholders may be precluded from calling special meetings.
The Companies Act provides shareholders with only limited rights to requisition a general meeting, and does not provide shareholders with any right to put any proposal before a general meeting. However, these rights may be provided in a company’s articles of association. Our amended and restated articles of association allow our shareholders holding shares which carry in aggregate not less than one-third of all votes attaching to the issued and outstanding shares of our company entitled to vote at general meetings to requisition an extraordinary general meeting of our shareholders, in which case our board is obliged to convene an extraordinary general meeting and to put the resolutions so requisitioned to a vote at such meeting. Other than this right to requisition a shareholders’ meeting, our amended and restated articles of association do not provide our shareholders with any other right to put proposals before annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings. As an exempted Cayman Islands company, we may but are not obliged by law to call shareholders’ annual general meetings.
Cumulative Voting
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, cumulative voting for elections of directors is not permitted unless the corporation’s certificate of incorporation specifically provides for it. Cumulative voting potentially facilitates the representation of minority shareholders on a board of directors since it permits the minority shareholder to cast all the votes to which the shareholder is entitled on a single director, which increases the shareholder’s voting power with respect to electing such director. There are no prohibitions in relation to cumulative voting under the laws of the Cayman Islands but our amended and restated articles of association do not provide for cumulative voting. As a result, our shareholders are not afforded any less protections or rights on this issue than shareholders of a Delaware corporation.
Removal of Directors
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a director of a corporation with a classified board may be removed only for cause with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Under our amended and restated articles of association, directors may be removed with or without cause, by an ordinary resolution of our shareholders. In addition, a director’s office shall be vacated if the director (i) becomes bankrupt or makes any arrangement or composition with his creditors; (ii) is found to be or becomes of unsound mind or dies; (iii) resigns his or her office by notice in writing to the company; (iv) without special leave of absence from our board of directors, is absent from three consecutive meetings of the board and the board resolves that his or her office be vacated; or (v) is removed from office pursuant to any other provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Transactions with Interested Shareholders
The Delaware General Corporation Law contains a business combination statute applicable to Delaware corporations whereby, unless the corporation has specifically elected not to be governed by such statute by
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amendment to its certificate of incorporation, it is prohibited from engaging in various business combinations with an “interested shareholder” for three years following the date that such person becomes an interested shareholder. An interested shareholder generally is a person or a group who or which owns or owned 15% or more of the target’s outstanding voting share within the past three years. This has the effect of limiting the ability of a potential acquirer to make a two-tiered bid for the target in which all shareholders would not be treated equally. The statute does not apply if, among other things, prior to the date on which such shareholder becomes an interested shareholder, the board of directors approves either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the person becoming an interested shareholder. This encourages any potential acquirer of a Delaware corporation to negotiate the terms of any acquisition transaction with the target’s board of directors.
Cayman Islands law has no comparable statute. As a result, we cannot avail ourselves of the types of protections afforded by the Delaware business combination statute. However, although Cayman Islands law does not regulate transactions between a company and its significant shareholders, it does provide that such transactions must be entered into bona fide in the best interests of the company and not with the effect of constituting a fraud on the minority shareholders.
Dissolution; Winding up
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, unless the board of directors approves the proposal to dissolve, dissolution must be approved by shareholders holding 100% of the total voting power of the corporation. Only if the dissolution is initiated by the board of directors may it be approved by a simple majority of the corporation’s outstanding shares. Delaware law allows a Delaware corporation to include in its certificate of incorporation a supermajority voting requirement in connection with dissolutions initiated by the board.
Under Cayman Islands law, a company may be wound up by either an order of the courts of the Cayman Islands or by a special resolution of its members or, if the company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due, by an ordinary resolution of its members. The court has authority to order winding up in a number of specified circumstances including where it is, in the opinion of the court, just and equitable to do so.
Variation of Rights of Shares
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation may vary the rights of a class of shares with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares of such class, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Under Cayman Islands law and our amended and restated articles of association, if our share capital is divided into more than one class of shares, we may vary the rights attached to any class with the written consent of the holders of two-thirds of the issued shares of that class or with the sanction of a special resolution passed at a general meeting of the holders of the shares of that class.
Amendment of Governing Documents
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation’s governing documents may be amended with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Under the Companies Act and our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution of our shareholders.
Rights of Non-resident or Foreign Shareholders
There are no limitations imposed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association on the rights of non-resident or foreign shareholders to hold or exercise voting rights on our shares. In addition, there are no provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the ownership threshold above which shareholder ownership must be disclosed.
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History of Securities Issuances
The following is a summary of our securities issuances in the past three years. Unless otherwise noted, the history of securities issuances set forth below does not give effect to the 1-for-1.74 share consolidation of our ordinary shares effected prior to our IPO.
Ordinary Shares
On April 14, 2020, we issued 245,798 ordinary shares to each of BioFortune Inc. and Zheng Wei, Ph.D.
From December 2018 through December 2020, we issued 4,473,305 ordinary shares to Connect Union, Inc. as nominee for purposes of the implementation of awards issue or to be issued to employees, directors and consultants of our company pursuant to the 2019 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2019 Plan. In September 2021, Connect Union surrendered all such ordinary shares to us and ceased holding ordinary shares issued by us under the nominee structure.
Immediately prior to our IPO, we effected a 1-for-1.74 share consolidation of our ordinary shares.
In March 2021, we completed our IPO on the NASDAQ Global Market pursuant to which we issued 12,937,500 ADSs, representing 12,937,500 ordinary shares, at $17.00 per share for gross proceeds of $219,937,500.00.
Upon the closing of our IPO, we issued (i) 121,080 ordinary shares to each of BioFortune Inc. and Dr. Wei immediately after the closing of the offering as a result of the achievement of the Financing Condition and (ii) 46,232 ordinary shares to the holders of Series C Preferred Shares pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions contained in the shareholders agreement with our pre-IPO investors.
In connection with our IPO, we adopted the 2021 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2021 Plan, to provide additional incentives to selected employees, directors and consultants, and to enable our company to obtain and retain the services of these individuals. The 2021 Plan enables us to grant options, share appreciation rights, restricted shares, restricted share units, dividend equivalent rights or other stock- or cash-based awards to our employees, directors and consultants. We authorized 6,000,000 ordinary shares to be available for grant pursuant to awards under the 2021 Plan, and as of May 31, 2022, there were 2,622,614 shares remaining available for grant.
As of May 31, 2022, there were 5,665,920 options outstanding under both plans with a weighted average exercise price of $8.19 of which 929,568 shares were vested.
Preferred Shares
Series C Preferred Shares Financing. On August 21, 2020, we issued and sold to investors in private placements an aggregate of 16,605,196 Series C Preferred Shares at a subscription price of $6.3233 per share, for aggregate consideration of approximately $105 million. On December 1, 2020, we issued and sold to investors in private placements an aggregate of 4,744,341 Series C Preferred Shares at a subscription price of $6.3233 per share, for aggregate consideration of $30 million.
All of our preferred shares were automatically converted into ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of our IPO.
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The following table sets forth the aggregate number of our ordinary shares and preferred shares acquired by holders of more than 5% of our ordinary shares in the pre-IPO financing transactions described above. All of our preferred shares were automatically converted into ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of our IPO.
| PARTICIPANTS |
ORDINARY SHARES |
SERIES C PREFERRED SHARES |
||||||
|
5% or Greater Shareholders |
||||||||
| Entities affiliated with Qiming |
— | 3,162,895 | ||||||
| Entities affiliated with RA Capital |
— | 6,325,789 | ||||||
| Shanghai Minhui Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) |
9,232,700 | — | ||||||
| (1) | Represents shares acquired by Qiming Managing Directors Fund V, L.P., Qiming Venture Partners V, L.P., Qiming VII Strategic Investors Fund, L.P. and Qiming Venture Partners VII, L.P. |
| (2) | Represents shares acquired by RA Capital Healthcare Fund, L.P., RA Capital Nexus Fund, L.P. and Blackwell Partners LLC—Series A. |
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The depositary for the ADSs is Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas. Our ordinary share register is maintained by Maples Fund Services (Cayman) Limited. The share register reflects only record owners of our ordinary shares. Holders of our ADSs will not be treated as one of our shareholders and their names will therefore not be entered in our share register. The depositary, the custodian or their nominees will be the holder of the shares underlying our ADSs. Holders of our ADSs have a right to receive the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs. For discussion on our ADSs and ADS holder rights, see “Description of American Depositary Shares” in this prospectus.
Listing
Our ADSs are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “CNTB.”
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DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN DEPOSITARY SHARES
American Depositary Shares
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as depositary, will register and deliver the ADSs. Each ADS will represent ownership of one ordinary share, deposited with Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch, as custodian for the depositary. Each ADS will also represent ownership of any other securities, cash or other property which may be held by the depositary. The depositary’s corporate trust office at which the ADSs will be administered is located at 60 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, USA. The principal executive office of the depositary is located at 60 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, USA.
The Direct Registration System, or DRS, is a system administered by The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, pursuant to which the depositary may register the ownership of uncertificated ADSs, which ownership shall be evidenced by periodic statements issued by the depositary to the ADS holders entitled thereto.
We will not treat ADS holders as our shareholders and accordingly, you, as an ADS holder, will not have shareholder rights. Cayman Islands law governs shareholder rights. The depositary will be the holder of the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. As a holder of ADSs, you will have ADS holder rights. A deposit agreement among us, the depositary and you, as an ADS holder, and the beneficial owners of ADSs sets out ADS holder rights as well as the rights and obligations of the depositary. The laws of the State of New York govern the deposit agreement and the ADSs. See “—Jurisdiction and Arbitration.”
The following is a summary of the material provisions of the deposit agreement. For more complete information, you should read the entire deposit agreement and the form of American Depositary Receipt, or ADR. For directions on how to obtain copies of those documents, see “Where You Can Find More Information.”
Holding the ADSs
How will you hold your ADSs?
You may hold ADSs either (1) directly (a) by having an ADR, which is a certificate evidencing a specific number of ADSs, registered in your name, or (b) by holding ADSs in DRS, or (2) indirectly through your broker or other financial institution. If you hold ADSs directly, you are an ADS holder. This description assumes you hold your ADSs directly. ADSs will be issued through DRS, unless you specifically request certificated ADRs. If you hold the ADSs indirectly, you must rely on the procedures of your broker or other financial institution to assert the rights of ADS holders described in this section. You should consult with your broker or financial institution to find out what those procedures are.
Dividends and Other Distributions
How will you receive dividends and other distributions on the ordinary shares?
The depositary has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on ordinary shares or other deposited securities, after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary shares your ADSs represent as of the record date (which will be as close as practicable to the record date for our ordinary shares) set by the depositary with respect to the ADSs.
| • | Cash. The depositary will convert or cause to be converted any cash dividend or other cash distribution we pay on the ordinary shares or any net proceeds from the sale of any ordinary shares, rights, securities or other entitlements under the terms of the deposit agreement into U.S. dollars if it can do so on a practicable basis, and can transfer the U.S. dollars to the United States and will distribute promptly the amount thus received. If the depositary shall determine in its judgment that such conversions or transfers are not practical or lawful or if any government approval or license is needed and cannot be |
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| obtained at a reasonable cost within a reasonable period or otherwise sought, the deposit agreement allows the depositary to distribute the foreign currency only to those ADS holders to whom it is possible to do so. It will hold or cause the custodian to hold the foreign currency it cannot convert for the account of the ADS holders who have not been paid and such funds will be held for the respective accounts of the ADS holders. It will not invest the foreign currency and it will not be liable for any interest for the respective accounts of the ADS holders. |
| • | Before making a distribution, any taxes or other governmental charges, together with fees and expenses of the depositary, that must be paid, will be deducted. See “Material Tax Considerations.” It will distribute only whole U.S. dollars and cents and will round down fractional cents to the nearest whole cent. If the exchange rates fluctuate during a time when the depositary cannot convert the foreign currency, you may lose some or all of the value of the distribution. |
| • | Shares. For any ordinary shares we distribute as a dividend or free distribution, either (1) the depositary will distribute additional ADSs representing such ordinary shares or (2) existing ADSs as of the applicable record date will represent rights and interests in the additional ordinary shares distributed, to the extent reasonably practicable and permissible under law, in either case, net of applicable fees, charges and expenses incurred by the depositary and taxes and/or other governmental charges. The depositary will only distribute whole ADSs. It will try to sell ordinary shares which would require it to deliver a fractional ADS and distribute the net proceeds in the same way as it does with cash. The depositary may sell a portion of the distributed ordinary shares sufficient to pay its fees and expenses, and any taxes and governmental charges, in connection with that distribution. |
| • | Elective Distributions in Cash or Shares. If we offer holders of our ordinary shares the option to receive dividends in either cash or shares, the depositary, after consultation with us and having received timely notice as described in the deposit agreement of such elective distribution by us, has discretion to determine to what extent such elective distribution will be made available to you as a holder of the ADSs. We must timely first instruct the depositary to make such elective distribution available to you and furnish it with satisfactory evidence that it is legal to do so. The depositary could decide it is not legal or reasonably practicable to make such elective distribution available to you. In such case, the depositary shall, on the basis of the same determination as is made in respect of the ordinary shares for which no election is made, distribute either cash in the same way as it does in a cash distribution, or additional ADSs representing ordinary shares in the same way as it does in a share distribution. The depositary is not obligated to make available to you a method to receive the elective dividend in shares rather than in ADSs. There can be no assurance that you will be given the opportunity to receive elective distributions on the same terms and conditions as the holders of ordinary shares. |
| • | Rights to Purchase Additional Shares. If we offer holders of our ordinary shares any rights to subscribe for additional shares, the depositary shall having received timely notice as described in the deposit agreement of such distribution by us, consult with us, and we must determine whether it is lawful and reasonably practicable to make these rights available to you. We must first instruct the depositary to make such rights available to you and furnish the depositary with satisfactory evidence that it is legal to do so. If the depositary decides it is not legal or reasonably practicable to make the rights available but that it is lawful and reasonably practicable to sell the rights, the depositary will endeavor to sell the rights and in a riskless principal capacity or otherwise, at such place and upon such terms (including public or private sale) as it may deem proper distribute the net proceeds in the same way as it does with cash. The depositary will allow rights that are not distributed or sold to lapse. In that case, you will receive no value for them. |
If the depositary makes rights available to you, it will establish procedures to distribute such rights and enable you to exercise the rights upon your payment of applicable fees, charges and expenses incurred by the depositary and taxes and/or other governmental charges. The Depositary shall not be obliged to make available to you a method to exercise such rights to subscribe for ordinary shares (rather than ADSs).
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U.S. securities laws may restrict transfers and cancellation of the ADSs represented by shares purchased upon exercise of rights. For example, you may not be able to trade these ADSs freely in the United States. In this case, the depositary may deliver restricted depositary shares that have the same terms as the ADSs described in this section except for changes needed to put the necessary restrictions in place.
There can be no assurance that you will be given the opportunity to exercise rights on the same terms and conditions as the holders of ordinary shares or be able to exercise such rights.
| • | Other Distributions. Subject to receipt of timely notice, as described in the deposit agreement, from us with the request to make any such distribution available to you, and provided the depositary has determined such distribution is lawful and reasonably practicable and feasible and in accordance with the terms of the deposit agreement, the depositary will distribute to you anything else we distribute on deposited securities by any means it may deem practicable, upon your payment of applicable fees, charges and expenses incurred by the depositary and taxes and/or other governmental charges. If any of the conditions above are not met, the depositary will endeavor to sell, or cause to be sold, what we distributed and distribute the net proceeds in the same way as it does with cash; or, if it is unable to sell such property, the depositary may dispose of such property in any way it deems reasonably practicable under the circumstances for nominal or no consideration, such that you may have no rights to or arising from such property. |
The depositary is not responsible if it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any ADS holders. We have no obligation to register ADSs, shares, rights or other securities under the Securities Act. We also have no obligation to take any other action to permit the distribution of ADSs, shares, rights or anything else to ADS holders. This means that you may not receive the distributions we make on our shares or any value for them if we and/or the depositary determines that it is illegal or not practicable for us or the depositary to make them available to you.
Deposit, Withdrawal and Cancellation
How are ADSs issued?
The depositary will deliver ADSs if you or your broker deposit ordinary shares or evidence of rights to receive ordinary shares with the custodian. Upon payment of its fees and expenses and of any taxes or charges, such as stamp taxes or stock transfer taxes or fees, the depositary will register the appropriate number of ADSs in the names you request and will deliver the ADSs to or upon the order of the person or persons entitled thereto.
How do ADS holders cancel an American Depositary Share?
You may turn in your ADSs at the depositary’s corporate trust office or by providing appropriate instructions to your broker. Upon payment of its fees and expenses and of any taxes or charges, such as stamp taxes or stock transfer taxes or fees, the depositary will deliver the ordinary shares and any other deposited securities underlying the ADSs to you or a person you designate at the office of the custodian. Or, at your request, risk and expense, the depositary will deliver the deposited securities at its corporate trust office, to the extent permitted by law.
How do ADS holders interchange between Certificated ADSs and Uncertificated ADSs?
You may surrender your ADR to the depositary for the purpose of exchanging your ADR for uncertificated ADSs. The depositary will cancel that ADR and will send you a statement confirming that you are the owner of uncertificated ADSs. Alternatively, upon receipt by the depositary of a proper instruction from a holder of uncertificated ADSs requesting the exchange of uncertificated ADSs for certificated ADSs, the depositary will execute and deliver to you an ADR evidencing those ADSs.
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Voting Rights
How do you vote?
You may instruct the depositary to vote the ordinary shares or other deposited securities underlying your ADSs at any meeting at which you are entitled to vote pursuant to any applicable law, the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, and the provisions of or governing the deposited securities. Otherwise, you could exercise your right to vote directly if you withdraw the ordinary shares. However, you may not know about the meeting sufficiently enough in advance to withdraw the ordinary shares.
If we ask for your instructions and upon timely notice from us by regular, ordinary mail delivery, or by electronic transmission, as described in the deposit agreement, the depositary will notify you of the upcoming meeting at which you are entitled to vote pursuant to any applicable law, the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, and the provisions of or governing the deposited securities, and arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. The materials will include or reproduce (a) such notice of meeting or solicitation of consents or proxies; (b) a statement that the ADS holders at the close of business on the ADS record date will be entitled, subject to any applicable law, the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, and the provisions of or governing the deposited securities, to instruct the depositary as to the exercise of the voting rights, if any, pertaining to the ordinary shares or other deposited securities represented by such holder’s ADSs; and (c) a brief statement as to the manner in which such instructions may be given to the depositary or deemed given in accordance with the second to last sentence of this paragraph if no instruction is received by the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us. Voting instructions may be given only in respect of a number of ADSs representing an integral number of ordinary shares or other deposited securities. For instructions to be valid, the depositary must receive them in writing on or before the date specified. The depositary will try, as far as practical, subject to applicable law and the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, to vote or to have its agents vote the ordinary shares or other deposited securities (in person or by proxy) as you instruct. The depositary will only vote or attempt to vote as you instruct. If we timely requested the depositary to solicit your instructions but no instructions are received by the depositary from an owner with respect to any of the deposited securities represented by the ADSs of that owner on or before the date established by the depositary for such purpose, the depositary shall deem that owner to have instructed the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us with respect to such deposited securities, and the depositary shall give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us to vote such deposited securities. However, no such instruction shall be deemed given and no such discretionary proxy shall be given with respect to any matter if we inform the depositary that we do not wish such proxy given, substantial opposition exists or the matter materially and adversely affects the rights of holders of the ordinary shares.
We cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. In addition, there can be no assurance that ADS holders and beneficial owners generally, or any holder or beneficial owner in particular, will be given the opportunity to vote or cause the custodian to vote on the same terms and conditions as the holders of our ordinary shares.
The depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for the manner of carrying out voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may have no recourse if the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested.
In order to give you a reasonable opportunity to instruct the depositary as to the exercise of voting rights relating to deposited securities, if we request the depositary to act, we will give the depositary notice of any such meeting and details concerning the matters to be voted at least 30 business days in advance of the meeting date.
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Compliance with Regulations
Information Requests
Each ADS holder and beneficial owner shall (a) provide such information as we or the depositary may request pursuant to law, including, without limitation, relevant Cayman Islands law, any applicable law of the United States of America, our memorandum and articles of association, any resolutions of our Board of Directors adopted pursuant to such memorandum and articles of association, the requirements of any markets or exchanges upon which the ordinary shares, ADSs or ADRs are listed or traded, or to any requirements of any electronic book-entry system by which the ADSs or ADRs may be transferred, regarding the capacity in which they own or owned ADRs, the identity of any other persons then or previously interested in such ADRs and the nature of such interest, and any other applicable matters, and (b) be bound by and subject to applicable provisions of the laws of the Cayman Islands, our memorandum and articles of association, and the requirements of any markets or exchanges upon which the ADSs, ADRs or ordinary shares are listed or traded, or pursuant to any requirements of any electronic book-entry system by which the ADSs, ADRs or ordinary shares may be transferred, to the same extent as if such ADS holder or beneficial owner held ordinary shares directly, in each case irrespective of whether or not they are ADS holders or beneficial owners at the time such request is made.
Disclosure of Interests
Each ADS holder and beneficial owner shall comply with our requests pursuant to Cayman Islands law, the rules and requirements of the Nasdaq Global Market and any other stock exchange on which the ordinary shares are, or will be, registered, traded or listed or our memorandum and articles of association, which requests are made to provide information, inter alia, as to the capacity in which such ADS holder or beneficial owner owns ADS and regarding the identity of any other person interested in such ADS and the nature of such interest and various other matters, whether or not they are ADS holders or beneficial owners at the time of such requests.
Fees and Expenses
As an ADS holder, you will be required to pay the following service fees to the depositary bank and certain taxes and governmental charges (in addition to any applicable fees, expenses, taxes and other governmental charges payable on the deposited securities represented by any of your ADSs):
| Service |
Fees | |
| • To any person to which ADSs are issued or to any person to which a distribution is made in respect of ADS distributions pursuant to stock dividends or other free distributions of stock, bonus distributions, stock splits or other distributions (except where converted to cash) |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS issued | |
| • Cancellation of ADSs, including the case of termination of the deposit agreement |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS cancelled | |
| • Distribution of cash dividends |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Distribution of cash entitlements (other than cash dividends) and/or cash proceeds from the sale of rights, securities and other entitlements |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Distribution of ADSs pursuant to exercise of rights |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Distribution of securities other than ADSs or rights to purchase additional ADSs |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held | |
| • Depositary services |
Up to US$0.05 per ADS held on the applicable record date(s) established by the depositary bank | |
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As an ADS holder, you will also be responsible for paying certain fees and expenses incurred by the depositary bank and certain taxes and governmental charges (in addition to any applicable fees, expenses, taxes and other governmental charges payable on the deposited securities represented by any of your ADSs) such as:
| • | Fees for the transfer and registration of ordinary shares charged by the registrar and transfer agent for the ordinary shares in the Cayman Islands (i.e., upon deposit and withdrawal of ordinary shares). |
| • | Expenses incurred for converting foreign currency into U.S. dollars. |
| • | Expenses for cable, telex and fax transmissions and for delivery of securities. |
| • | Taxes and duties upon the transfer of securities, including any applicable stamp duties, any stock transfer charges or withholding taxes (i.e., when ordinary shares are deposited or withdrawn from deposit). |
| • | Fees and expenses incurred in connection with the delivery or servicing of ordinary shares on deposit. |
| • | Fees and expenses incurred in connection with complying with exchange control regulations and other regulatory requirements applicable to ordinary shares, deposited securities, ADSs and ADRs. |
| • | Any applicable fees and penalties thereon. |
The depositary fees payable upon the issuance and cancellation of ADSs are typically paid to the depositary bank by the brokers (on behalf of their clients) receiving the newly issued ADSs from the depositary bank and by the brokers (on behalf of their clients) delivering the ADSs to the depositary bank for cancellation. The brokers in turn charge these fees to their clients. Depositary fees payable in connection with distributions of cash or securities to ADS holders and the depositary services fee are charged by the depositary bank to the holders of record of ADSs as of the applicable ADS record date.
The depositary fees payable for cash distributions are generally deducted from the cash being distributed or by selling a portion of distributable property to pay the fees. In the case of distributions other than cash (i.e., share dividends, rights), the depositary bank charges the applicable fee to the ADS record date holders concurrent with the distribution. In the case of ADSs registered in the name of the investor (whether certificated or uncertificated in direct registration), the depositary bank sends invoices to the applicable record date ADS holders. In the case of ADSs held in brokerage and custodian accounts (via DTC), the depositary bank generally collects its fees through the systems provided by DTC (whose nominee is the registered holder of the ADSs held in DTC) from the brokers and custodians holding ADSs in their DTC accounts. The brokers and custodians who hold their clients’ ADSs in DTC accounts in turn charge their clients’ accounts the amount of the fees paid to the depositary banks.
In the event of refusal to pay the depositary fees, the depositary bank may, under the terms of the deposit agreement, refuse the requested service until payment is received or may set off the amount of the depositary fees from any distribution to be made to the ADS holder.
The depositary may make payments to us or reimburse us for certain costs and expenses, by making available a portion of the ADS fees collected in respect of the ADR program or otherwise, upon such terms and conditions as we and the depositary bank agree from time to time.
Payment of Taxes
You will be responsible for any taxes or other governmental charges payable, or which become payable, on your ADSs or on the deposited securities represented by any of your ADSs. The depositary may refuse to register or transfer your ADSs or allow you to withdraw the deposited securities represented by your ADSs until such taxes or other charges are paid. It may apply payments owed to you or sell deposited securities represented by your ADSs to pay any taxes owed and you will remain liable for any deficiency. If the depositary sells deposited
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securities, it will, if appropriate, reduce the number of ADSs to reflect the sale and pay to you any net proceeds, or send to you any property, remaining after it has paid the taxes. You agree to indemnify us, the depositary, the custodian and each of our and their respective agents, directors, employees and affiliates for, and hold each of them harmless from, any claims with respect to taxes (including applicable interest and penalties thereon) arising from any refund of taxes, reduced rate of withholding at source or other tax benefit obtained for you. Your obligations under this paragraph shall survive any transfer of ADRs, any surrender of ADRs and withdrawal of deposited securities or the termination of the deposit agreement.
Reclassifications, Recapitalizations and Mergers
| If we: |
Then: | |
| Change the nominal or par value of our ordinary shares | The cash, shares or other securities received by the depositary will become deposited securities. | |
| Reclassify, split up or consolidate any of the deposited securities | Each ADS will automatically represent its equal share of the new deposited securities. | |
| Distribute securities on the ordinary shares that are not distributed to you, or | The depositary may distribute some or all of the cash, shares or other securities it received. It may also deliver new ADSs or ask you to surrender your outstanding ADRs in exchange for new ADRs identifying the new deposited securities. | |
| Recapitalize, reorganize, merge, liquidate, sell all or substantially all of our assets, or take any similar action | ||
Amendment and Termination
How may the deposit agreement be amended?
We may agree with the depositary to amend the deposit agreement and the form of ADR without your consent for any reason. If an amendment adds or increases fees or charges, except for taxes and other governmental charges or expenses of the depositary for registration fees, facsimile costs, delivery charges or similar items, including expenses incurred in connection with foreign exchange control regulations and other charges specifically payable by ADS holders under the deposit agreement, or materially prejudices a substantial existing right of ADS holders, it will not become effective for outstanding ADSs until 30 days after the depositary notifies ADS holders of the amendment. At the time an amendment becomes effective, you are considered, by continuing to hold your ADSs, to agree to the amendment and to be bound by the ADRs and the deposit agreement as amended. If any new laws are adopted which would require the deposit agreement to be amended in order to comply therewith, we and the depositary may amend the deposit agreement in accordance with such laws and such amendment may become effective before notice thereof is given to ADS holders.
How may the deposit agreement be terminated?
The depositary will terminate the deposit agreement if we ask it to do so, in which case the depositary will give notice to you at least 90 days prior to termination. The depositary may also terminate the deposit agreement if the depositary has told us that it would like to resign, or if we have removed the depositary, and in either case we have not appointed a new depositary within 90 days. In either such case, the depositary must notify you at least 30 days before termination.
After termination, the depositary and its agents will do the following under the deposit agreement but nothing else: collect distributions on the deposited securities, sell rights and other property and deliver ordinary shares and other deposited securities upon cancellation of ADSs after payment of any fees, charges, taxes or other governmental charges. Six months or more after the date of termination, the depositary may sell any remaining deposited securities by public or private sale. After that, the depositary will hold the money it received on the sale, as well as any other cash it is holding under the deposit agreement, for the pro rata benefit of the
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ADS holders that have not surrendered their ADSs. It will not invest the money and has no liability for interest. After such sale, the depositary’s only obligations will be to account for the money and other cash. After termination, we shall be discharged from all obligations under the deposit agreement except for our obligations to the depositary thereunder.
Books of Depositary
The depositary will maintain ADS holder records at its depositary office. You may inspect such records at such office during regular business hours but solely for the purpose of communicating with other holders in the interest of business matters relating to the Company, the ADRs and the deposit agreement.
The depositary will maintain facilities in the Borough of Manhattan, The City of New York to record and process the issuance, cancellation, combination, split-up and transfer of ADRs.
These facilities may be closed at any time or from time to time when such action is deemed necessary or advisable by the depositary in connection with the performance of its duties under the deposit agreement or at our reasonable written request.
Limitations on Obligations and Liability
Limits on our Obligations and the Obligations of the Depositary and the Custodian; Limits on Liability to Holders of ADSs
The deposit agreement expressly limits our obligations and the obligations of the depositary and the custodian. It also limits our liability and the liability of the depositary. The depositary and the custodian:
| • | are only obligated to take the actions specifically set forth in the deposit agreement without gross negligence or willful misconduct; |
| • | are not liable if any of us or our respective controlling persons or agents are prevented or forbidden from, or subjected to any civil or criminal penalty or restraint on account of, or delayed in, doing or performing any act or thing required by the terms of the deposit agreement and any ADR, by reason of any provision of any present or future law or regulation of the United States or any state thereof, the Cayman Islands or any other country, or of any other governmental authority or regulatory authority or stock exchange, or on account of the possible criminal or civil penalties or restraint, or by reason of any provision, present or future, of our memorandum and articles of association or any provision of or governing any deposited securities, or by reason of any act of God or war or other circumstances beyond its control (including, without limitation, nationalization, expropriation, currency restrictions, work stoppage, strikes, civil unrest, revolutions, rebellions, explosions and computer failure); |
| • | are not liable by reason of any exercise of, or failure to exercise, any discretion provided for in the deposit agreement or in our memorandum and articles of association or provisions of or governing deposited securities; |
| • | are not liable for any action or inaction of the depositary, the custodian or us or their or our respective controlling persons or agents in reliance upon the advice of or information from legal counsel, any person presenting ordinary shares for deposit or any other person believed by it in good faith to be competent to give such advice or information; |
| • | are not liable for the inability of any holder of ADSs to benefit from any distribution on deposited securities that is not made available to holders of ADSs under the terms of the deposit agreement; |
| • | are not liable for any special, consequential, indirect or punitive damages for any breach of the terms of the deposit agreement, or otherwise; |
| • | may rely upon any documents we believe in good faith to be genuine and to have been signed or presented by the proper party; |
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| • | disclaim any liability for any action or inaction or inaction of any of us or our respective controlling persons or agents in reliance upon the advice of or information from legal counsel, accountants, any person presenting ordinary shares for deposit, holders and beneficial owners (or authorized representatives) of ADSs, or any person believed in good faith to be competent to give such advice or information; and |
| • | disclaim any liability for inability of any holder to benefit from any distribution, offering, right or other benefit made available to holders of deposited securities but not made available to holders of ADS. |
The depositary and any of its agents also disclaim any liability (i) for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, the manner in which any vote is cast or the effect of any vote or failure to determine that any distribution or action may be lawful or reasonably practicable or for allowing any rights to lapse in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement, (ii) the failure or timeliness of any notice from us, the content of any information submitted to it by us for distribution to you or for any inaccuracy of any translation thereof, (iii) any investment risk associated with the acquisition of an interest in the deposited securities, the validity or worth of the deposited securities, the credit-worthiness of any third party, (iv) for any tax consequences that may result from ownership of ADSs, ordinary shares or deposited securities, or (v) for any acts or omissions made by a successor depositary whether in connection with a previous act or omission of the depositary or in connection with any matter arising wholly after the removal or resignation of the depositary, provided that in connection with the issue out of which such potential liability arises the depositary performed its obligations without gross negligence or willful misconduct while it acted as depositary.
In the deposit agreement, we and the depositary agree to indemnify each other under certain circumstances.
Jurisdiction and Arbitration
The laws of the State of New York govern the deposit agreement and the ADSs and we have agreed with the depositary that the federal or state courts in the City of New York shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any dispute arising from or in connection with the deposit agreement and that the depositary will have the right to refer any claim or dispute arising from the relationship created by the deposit agreement (including those purchasers of ADSs in a secondary market transaction) to arbitration in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitration provisions of the deposit agreement govern such dispute or difference and do not, in any event, preclude you from pursuing claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act in federal or state courts.
Jury Trial Waiver
The deposit agreement provides that each party to the deposit agreement (including each holder, beneficial owner and holder of interests in the ADRs) irrevocably waives, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any right it may have to a trial by jury in any lawsuit or proceeding against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws. If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable law.
Requirements for Depositary Actions
Before the depositary will issue, deliver or register a transfer of an ADS, split-up, subdivide or combine ADSs, make a distribution on an ADS, or permit withdrawal of ordinary shares, the depositary may require:
| • | payment of stock transfer or other taxes or other governmental charges and transfer or registration fees charged by third parties for the transfer of any ordinary shares or other deposited securities and payment of the applicable fees, expenses and charges of the depositary; |
| • | satisfactory proof of the identity and genuineness of any signature or any other matters contemplated in the deposit agreement; and |
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| • | compliance with (A) any laws or governmental regulations relating to the execution and delivery of ADRs or ADSs or to the withdrawal or delivery of deposited securities and (B) such reasonable regulations and procedures as the depositary may establish, from time to time, consistent with the deposit agreement and applicable laws, including presentation of transfer documents. |
The depositary may refuse to issue and deliver ADSs or register transfers of ADSs generally when the register of the depositary or our transfer books are closed or at any time if the depositary or we determine that it is necessary or advisable to do so.
Your Right to Receive the Shares Underlying Your ADSs
You have the right to cancel your ADSs and withdraw the underlying ordinary shares at any time except:
| • | when temporary delays arise because: (1) the depositary has closed its transfer books or we have closed our transfer books; (2) the transfer of ordinary shares is blocked to permit voting at a shareholders’ meeting; or (3) we are paying a dividend on our ordinary shares; |
| • | when you owe money to pay fees, taxes and similar charges; |
| • | when it is necessary to prohibit withdrawals in order to comply with any laws or governmental regulations that apply to ADSs or to the withdrawal of ordinary shares or other deposited securities, or other circumstances specifically contemplated by Section I.A.(l) of the General Instructions to Form F-6 (as such General Instructions may be amended from time to time); or |
| • | for any other reason if the depositary or we determine, in good faith, that it is necessary or advisable to prohibit withdrawals. |
The depositary shall not knowingly accept for deposit under the deposit agreement any ordinary shares or other deposited securities required to be registered under the provisions of the Securities Act, unless a registration statement is in effect as to such ordinary shares.
This right of withdrawal may not be limited by any other provision of the deposit agreement.
Direct Registration System
| • | In the deposit agreement, all parties to the deposit agreement acknowledge that the DRS and Profile Modification System, or Profile, will apply to uncertificated ADSs upon acceptance thereof to DRS by DTC. DRS is the system administered by DTC pursuant to which the depositary may register the ownership of uncertificated ADSs, which ownership shall be evidenced by periodic statements issued by the depositary to the ADS holders entitled thereto. Profile is a required feature of DRS which allows a DTC participant, claiming to act on behalf of an ADS holder, to direct the depositary to register a transfer of those ADSs to DTC or its nominee and to deliver those ADSs to the DTC account of that DTC participant without receipt by the depositary of prior authorization from the ADS holder to register such transfer. |
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The following summary of Cayman Islands, PRC and U.S. federal income tax consequences of an investment in the ADSs or Ordinary Shares is based upon laws and relevant interpretations thereof in effect as of the date of this prospectus, all of which are subject to change. This summary does not deal with all possible tax consequences relating to an investment in the ADSs or Ordinary Shares, such as the tax consequences under state, local and other tax laws, or tax laws of jurisdictions other than the Cayman Islands, the PRC and the United States. You should consult your own tax advisor concerning the tax consequences of your particular situation, as well as any tax consequences that may arise under the laws of any state, local, foreign or other taxing jurisdiction.
Cayman Islands Taxation
The Cayman Islands currently levies no taxes on individuals or corporations based upon profits, income, gains or appreciation and there is no taxation in the nature of inheritance tax or estate duty. There are no other taxes likely to be material to us levied by the government of the Cayman Islands except for stamp duties which may be applicable on instruments executed in, or, after execution, brought within the jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands is not party to any double tax treaties that are applicable to any payments made to or by our company. There are no exchange control regulations or currency restrictions in the Cayman Islands.
Payments of dividends and capital in respect of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs will not be subject to taxation in the Cayman Islands and no withholding will be required on the payment of a dividend or capital to any holder of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs, nor will gains derived from the disposal of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs be subject to Cayman Islands income or corporation tax.
People’s Republic of China Taxation
Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside China with “de facto management body” within China is considered as a Tax Resident Enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes and is generally subject to a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on its worldwide income. The implementation rules of the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law define the term “de facto management body” as the body that exercises full and substantial control and overall management over the business, productions, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. In April 2009, the State Administration of Taxation, or SAT, issued the Notice Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore-Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Although this circular only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the criteria set forth in the circular may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” text should be applied in determining the tax resident status of all offshore enterprises. According to Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in China; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise’s financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel located in China; (iii) the enterprise’s primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions, are located or maintained in China; and (iv) at least 50% of board members with voting rights or senior executives habitually reside in China.
We believe that we should not be considered as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes as (i) we are incorporated outside of China and not controlled by a PRC enterprise or PRC enterprise group; and (ii) we do not meet all of the conditions above. However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term “de facto management body.” There can be no assurance that PRC tax authorities will ultimately not take a different view.
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If the PRC tax authorities determine that we are a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, our worldwide income could be subject to 25% enterprise income tax; and any dividends payable to non-resident enterprise holders of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs may be treated as income derived from sources within China and therefore, subject to a 10% withholding tax (or 20% in the case of non-resident individual holders) unless an applicable income tax treaty provides otherwise. In addition, capital gains realized by non-resident enterprise shareholders (including our ADS holders) upon the disposition of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs may be treated as income derived from sources within PRC and therefore, subject to 10% income tax (or 20% in the case of non-resident individual shareholders or ADS holders) unless an applicable income tax treaty provides otherwise. It is unclear whether non-PRC shareholders of our company would be able to claim the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in the PRC—We may be treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, and we may therefore be subject to PRC income tax on our global income.”
Provided that we are not deemed to be a PRC resident enterprise, holders of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs who are not PRC residents will not be subject to PRC income tax on dividends distributed by us or gains realized from the sale or other disposition of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs. However, under the Bulletin on Issues of Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Transfers of Assets by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises issued by the SAT on February 3, 2015, or Bulletin 7, where a non-resident enterprise conducts an “indirect transfer” by transferring taxable assets, including, in particular, equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise, indirectly by disposing of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, the non-resident enterprise, being the transferor, or the transferee or the PRC entity which directly owned such taxable assets may report to the relevant tax authority such indirect transfer. Using a “substance over form” principle, the PRC tax authority may disregard the existence of the overseas holding company if it lacks a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of reducing, avoiding or deferring PRC tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and the transferee or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer is obligated to withhold the applicable taxes, currently at a rate of 10% for the transfer of equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise. We and our non-PRC resident investors may be at the risk of being required to file a return and being taxed under Bulletin 7, and we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with Bulletin 7, or to establish that we should not be taxed under these regulations.
United States Federal Income Taxation Considerations
The following discussion describes certain material United States federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders (defined below) of an investment in the ADSs or Ordinary Shares. This summary applies only to investors that hold the ADSs or Ordinary Shares as capital assets (generally, property held for investment) and that have the U.S. dollar as their functional currency. This discussion is based on the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), as in effect on the date of this prospectus and on United States Treasury regulations in effect or, in some cases, proposed, as of the date of this prospectus, as well as judicial and administrative interpretations thereof available on or before such date. All of the foregoing authorities are subject to change, which change could apply retroactively and could affect the tax consequences described below. The summary below does not discuss certain United States federal tax consequences that may be relevant to a particular U.S. Holder’s particular circumstances, such as consequences relating to the Medicare contribution tax on net investment income or the alternative minimum tax.
The following discussion neither deals with the tax consequences to any particular investor nor describes all of the tax consequences applicable to persons in special tax situations such as:
| • | banks; |
| • | certain financial institutions; |
| • | insurance companies; |
| • | regulated investment companies; |
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| • | real estate investment trusts; |
| • | broker dealers; |
| • | United States expatriates; |
| • | traders that elect to use the mark-to-market method of tax accounting; |
| • | tax-exempt entities; |
| • | persons holding an ADS or Ordinary Share as part of a straddle, hedging, conversion or integrated transaction; |
| • | persons that actually or constructively own 10% or more of our stock, by total combined voting power or by value; |
| • | persons who acquired ADSs or Ordinary Shares pursuant to the exercise of any employee share option or otherwise as compensation; or |
| • | persons holding ADSs or Ordinary Shares through partnerships or other pass-through entities. |
INVESTORS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL TAX RULES TO THEIR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES AS WELL AS THE STATE AND LOCAL, FOREIGN AND OTHER TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM OF THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF ADSs OR ORDINARY SHARES.
A “U.S. Holder,” for purposes of this discussion, means a beneficial owner of ADSs or Ordinary Shares that is, for United States federal income tax purposes,
| • | an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States; |
| • | a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation for United states federal income tax purposes) created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; |
| • | an estate, the income of which is subject to United States federal income taxation regardless of its source; or |
| • | a trust (a) that is subject to the supervision of a court within the United States and the control of one or more United States persons as described in Internal Revenue Code Section 7701(a)(30), or (b) that has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations to be treated as a United States person. |
If an entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for United States federal income tax purposes holds ADSs or Ordinary Shares, the tax treatment of a partner will generally depend upon the status and the activities of the partnership. A U.S. Holder that is a partner in a partnership holding ADSs or Ordinary Shares is urged to consult its tax advisor.
United States Treasury regulations (the “Foreign Tax Credit Regulations”) may in some circumstances prohibit you from claiming a foreign tax credit with respect to certain non-U.S. taxes that are not creditable under applicable income tax treaties. Accordingly, a U.S. Holder that is not eligible for the benefits of the income tax treaty between the United States and the PRC (the “Treaty”) should consult its tax advisor regarding the creditability or deductibility of any PRC taxes imposed on dividends on, or dispositions of, the ADSs. Accordingly, the discussions below with respect to foreign tax credits do not apply to U.S. Holders in this situation.
The discussion below assumes that the representations contained in the deposit agreement are true and that the obligations in the deposit agreement and any related agreement will be complied with in accordance with their terms. Based on such assumptions, if you hold ADSs, you should generally be treated as the holder of the underlying Ordinary Shares represented by those ADSs for United States federal income tax purposes.
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The United States Treasury has expressed concerns that intermediaries in the chain of ownership between the holder of an ADS and the issuer of the underlying Ordinary Shares may be taking actions that are inconsistent with the beneficial ownership of the underlying Ordinary Shares. Accordingly, the creditability of foreign tax credits by U.S. Holders of ADSs or the availability of the reduced tax rate for dividends received by certain non-corporate U.S. Holders could be affected by actions taken by intermediaries in the chain of ownership between the holder of an ADS and the Company.
Taxation of Dividends and Other Distributions on the ADSs or Ordinary Shares
Subject to the passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) rules discussed below, the gross amount of any distributions we make to you with respect to the ADSs or Ordinary Shares (without reduction for any amounts withheld) generally will be includible in your gross income as foreign source dividend income on the date of receipt by the depository, in the case of ADSs, or by you, in the case of Ordinary Shares, but only to the extent that the distribution is paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under United States federal income tax principles). Any such dividends will not be eligible for the dividends received deduction allowed to corporations in respect of dividends received from other United States corporations. To the extent that the amount of the distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under United States federal income tax principles), such excess amount will be treated first as a tax-free return of your tax basis in your ADSs or Ordinary Shares, and then, to the extent such excess amount exceeds your tax basis in your ADSs or Ordinary Shares, as capital gain. However, we currently do not, and we do not intend to calculate our earnings and profits under United States federal income tax principles. Therefore, a U.S. Holder should expect that any distribution will generally be reported as a dividend even if that distribution would otherwise be treated as a non-taxable return of capital or as capital gain under the rules described above.
The amount of any dividend paid in foreign currency will be the U.S. dollar amount calculated by reference to the exchange rate in effect on the date of receipt, regardless of whether the payment is in fact converted into U.S. dollars. If the dividend is converted into U.S. dollars on the date of receipt, a U.S. Holder should not be required to recognize foreign currency gain or loss in respect of the dividend income. A U.S. Holder may have foreign currency gain or loss if the dividend is converted into U.S. dollars after the date of receipt.
With respect to certain non-corporate U.S. Holders, including individual U.S. Holders, dividends may be taxed at the lower capital gains rate applicable to “qualified dividend income”, provided that (1) the ADSs or Ordinary Shares, as applicable, are readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States or we are eligible for the benefits of a qualifying income tax treaty with the United States, (2) we are neither a PFIC nor treated as such with respect to you (as discussed below) for the taxable year in which the dividend is paid or the preceding taxable year, and (3) the ADSs or Ordinary Shares are held for a holding period of more than 60 days during the 121-day period beginning 60 days before the ex-dividend date. Ordinary Shares or ADSs will generally be considered for the purpose of clause (1) above to be readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States if they are listed on Nasdaq, as our ADSs are expected to be. If we are treated as a “resident enterprise” for PRC tax purposes (see “Material Tax Considerations—People’s Republic of China Taxation”), we may be eligible for the benefits of the Treaty. You should consult your tax advisors regarding the availability of the lower capital gains rate applicable to qualified dividend income for any dividends paid with respect to our ADSs or Ordinary Shares.
Any non-U.S. withholding tax (including any PRC withholding tax (see “Material Tax Considerations—People’s Republic of China Taxation”)) paid (or deemed paid) by a U.S. Holder at the rate applicable to such U.S. Holder may be eligible for foreign tax credits (or deduction in lieu of such credits) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, subject to applicable limitations. Any dividends will constitute foreign source income for foreign tax credit limitation purposes. If the dividends are taxed as qualified dividend income (as discussed above), the amount of the dividend taken into account for purposes of calculating the foreign tax credit limitation will in general be limited to the gross amount of the dividend, multiplied by the reduced tax rate applicable to qualified
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dividend income and divided by the highest tax rate normally applicable to dividends. The limitation on foreign taxes eligible for credit is calculated separately with respect to specific classes of income. For this purpose, any dividends distributed by us with respect to ADSs or Ordinary Shares will generally constitute “passive category income.”
The rules relating to the determination of the foreign tax credit are complex and U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors to determine whether and to what extent a credit would be available in their particular circumstances, including the effects of any applicable income tax treaties.
Taxation of a Disposition of ADSs or Ordinary shares
Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, upon a sale or other disposition of ADSs or Ordinary Shares, a U.S. Holder will generally recognize a capital gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes in an amount equal to the difference between the amount realized for the ADS or Ordinary Share and such U.S. Holder’s tax basis in such ADSs and Ordinary Shares. Any such gain or loss will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. Holder’s holding period in the ADSs and Ordinary Shares at the time of the disposition exceeds one year. Long-term capital gain of individual U.S. Holders generally will be subject to United States federal income tax at reduced tax rates. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations.
Any such gain or loss that you recognize generally will be treated as United States source income or loss for foreign tax credit limitation purposes. However, if we are treated as a “resident enterprise” for PRC tax purposes, we may be eligible for the benefits of the Treaty. In such event, if PRC tax were to be imposed on any gain from the disposition of the ADSs or Ordinary Shares, a U.S. Holder that is eligible for the benefits of the Treaty may elect to treat the gain as PRC source income for foreign tax credit purposes. The Foreign Tax Credit Regulations generally preclude you from claiming a foreign tax credit with respect to PRC income taxes on gains from dispositions of ADSs or Ordinary Shares if you do not elect to apply the benefits of the Treaty. However, in that case it is possible that any PRC taxes on disposition gains may either be deductible or reduce the amount realized on the disposition. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the proper treatment of gain or loss in their particular circumstances, including the effects of any applicable income tax treaties.
Passive Foreign Investment Company
A non-United States corporation will be a PFIC for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year if, after applying certain look-through rules, either:
| • | at least 75% of its gross income for such taxable year is passive income (the income test), or |
| • | at least 50% of the total value of its assets (generally based on an average of the quarterly values of the assets during such year) is attributable to assets, including cash, that produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income (the asset test). |
For this purpose, we will be treated as owning our proportionate share of the assets and earning our proportionate share of the income of any other corporation in which we own, directly or indirectly, 25% (by value) of the stock.
We do not believe we were a PFIC for our 2021 taxable year. However, due to the high volatility of the current equity markets and our holding of a significant amount of cash, we are not certain whether we will be treated as a PFIC for the current taxable year or in the foreseeable future. PFIC determinations are highly factual and must be made annually after the close of each taxable year, and the application of the PFIC rules is subject to uncertainty in several respects. Moreover, the value of our assets for purposes of the PFIC determination will generally be determined by reference to the market price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs, which could fluctuate significantly. Therefore, there is no assurance we will not be a PFIC for the current taxable year or in the foreseeable future.
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If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold ADSs or Ordinary Shares, we generally will continue to be treated as a PFIC with respect to you for all succeeding years during which you hold our Ordinary Shares or ADSs, unless we cease to be a PFIC and you make a “deemed sale” election with respect to the Ordinary Shares or ADSs. If such election is timely made, you will be deemed to have sold the ADSs and Ordinary Shares you hold at their fair market value on the last day of the last taxable year in which we were as a PFIC and any gain from such deemed sale would be subject to the consequences described in the following two paragraphs. In addition, a new holding period would be deemed to begin for the Ordinary Shares and ADSs for purposes of the PFIC rules. After the deemed sale election, your Ordinary Shares or ADSs with respect to which the deemed sale election was made will not be treated as shares in a PFIC unless we subsequently become a PFIC.
For each taxable year that we are treated as a PFIC with respect to you, you will be subject to special tax rules with respect to any “excess distribution” that you receive and any gain you recognize from a sale or other disposition (including a deemed sale discussed in the preceding paragraph and a pledge) of the ADSs or Ordinary Shares, unless you make a “mark-to-market” election as discussed below. Distributions you receive in a taxable year that are greater than 125% of the average annual distributions you received during the shorter of the three preceding taxable years or your holding period for the ADSs or Ordinary Shares will be treated as an excess distribution. Under these special tax rules:
| • | the excess distribution or gain will be allocated ratably over your holding period for the ADSs or Ordinary Shares; |
| • | the amount allocated to the current taxable year, and any taxable year in your holding period prior to the first taxable year in which we were a PFIC, will be treated as ordinary income; and |
| • | the amount allocated to each other year will be subject to the highest tax rate in effect for individuals or corporations, as applicable, for each such year and the interest charge generally applicable to underpayments of tax will be imposed on the resulting tax attributable to each such year. |
In addition, non-corporate U.S. Holders will not be eligible for reduced rates of taxation on any dividends received from us (as described above under “—Taxation of Dividends and Other Distributions on the ADSs or Ordinary Shares”) if we are a PFIC in the taxable year in which such dividends are paid or in the preceding taxable year.
The tax liability for amounts allocated to taxable years prior to the year of disposition or “excess distribution” cannot be offset by any net operating losses for such years, and gains (but not losses) realized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or Ordinary Shares cannot be treated as capital, even if you hold the ADSs or Ordinary Shares as capital assets.
If we are treated as PFIC with respect to you for any taxable year, to the extent any of our subsidiaries are also PFICs or we make direct or indirect equity investments in other entities that are PFICs, you may be deemed to own shares in such lower-tier PFICs that are directly or indirectly owned by us in that proportion which the value of the ADSs and Ordinary Shares you own bears to the value of all of the ADSs and Ordinary Shares, and you may be subject to the adverse tax consequences described in the preceding paragraphs with respect to the shares of such lower-tier PFICs that you would be deemed to own. You should consult your tax advisor regarding the applicability of the PFIC rules to any of our subsidiaries.
A U.S. Holder of “marketable stock” (as defined below) in a PFIC may make a mark-to-market election for such stock to elect out of the PFIC rules described above regarding excess distributions and recognized gains. If you make a valid mark-to-market election for the ADSs or Ordinary Shares, you will include in income for each year that we are a PFIC an amount equal to the excess, if any, of the fair market value of the ADSs or Ordinary Shares as of the close of your taxable year over your adjusted basis in such ADSs or Ordinary Shares. You will be allowed a deduction for the excess, if any, of the adjusted basis of the ADSs or Ordinary Shares over their fair market value as of the close of the taxable year. However, deductions are allowable only to the extent of any net mark-to-market gains on the ADSs or Ordinary Shares included in your income for prior taxable years. Amounts included in your income under a mark-to-market election, as well as gain on the actual sale or other disposition of the ADSs or Ordinary Shares will be treated as ordinary income. Ordinary loss treatment will also apply to the deductible portion of any mark-to-market loss on the ADSs or Ordinary Shares, as well as to any loss realized on
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the actual sale or other disposition of the ADSs or Ordinary Shares, to the extent that the amount of such loss does not exceed the net mark-to-market gains previously included for such ADSs or Ordinary Shares. Your basis in the ADSs or Ordinary Shares will be adjusted to reflect any such income or loss amounts. If you make a mark-to-market election, any distributions that we make would generally be subject to the tax rules discussed above under “—Taxation of Dividends and Other Distributions on the ADSs or Ordinary Shares,” except that the lower rate applicable to qualified dividend income (discussed above) would not apply.
The mark-to-market election is available only for “marketable stock,” which is stock that is traded in other than de minimis quantities on at least 15 days during each calendar quarter (“regularly traded”) on a qualified exchange or other market, as defined in the applicable United States Treasury regulations. Nasdaq is a qualified exchange. Our ADSs are expected to be listed on Nasdaq and, consequently, if you are a holder of ADSs and the ADSs are regularly traded, the mark-to-market election may be available to you if we become a PFIC. Because a mark-to-market election may not be made for equity interests in any lower-tier PFICs we own, a U.S. Holder may continue to be subject to the PFIC rules with respect to its indirect interest in any investments held by us that are treated as an equity interest in a PFIC for United States federal income tax purposes. You should consult your tax advisors as to the availability and desirability of a mark-to-market election, as well as the impact of such election on interests in any lower-tier PFICs.
Alternatively, if a non-United States corporation is a PFIC, a holder of shares in that corporation may avoid taxation under the PFIC rules described above regarding excess distributions and recognized gains by making a “qualified electing fund” election (a “QEF Election”) to include in income its share of the corporation’s income on a current basis. However, you may make a qualified electing fund election with respect to our ADSs or Ordinary Shares only if we agree to furnish you annually with certain tax information. If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we intend to provide the information necessary for you to make a QEF Election with respect to us and intend to cause each lower-tier PFIC which we control to provide such information with respect to such lower-tier PFIC.
A U.S. Holder of a PFIC is generally required to file an annual report with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. If we are or become a PFIC, you should consult your tax advisor regarding any reporting requirements that may apply to you.
You should consult your tax advisor regarding the application of the PFIC rules to your investment in ADSs or Ordinary Shares.
Information Reporting and Backup Withholding
Any dividend payments with respect to ADSs or Ordinary Shares and proceeds from the sale, exchange, redemption or other disposition of ADSs or Ordinary Shares may be subject to information reporting to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and possible United States backup withholding. Backup withholding will not apply, however, to a U.S. Holder who furnishes a correct taxpayer identification number and makes any other required certification or who is otherwise exempt from backup withholding. U.S. Holders who are required to establish their exempt status generally must provide such certification on Internal Revenue Service Form W-9. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the application of the United States information reporting and backup withholding rules.
Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Amounts withheld as backup withholding may be credited against your United States federal income tax liability, and you may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules by timely filing the appropriate claim for refund with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and furnishing any required information.
Additional Reporting Requirements
Certain U.S. Holders who are individuals (and certain entities) are required to report information relating to an interest in our ADSs or Ordinary Shares, subject to certain exceptions (including an exception for ADSs and Ordinary Shares held in accounts maintained by certain financial institutions). U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the effect, if any, of these rules on the ownership and disposition of our ADSs or Ordinary Shares.
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We have entered into a Sales Agreement with the Sales Agents under which we may issue and sell up to $150.0 million of the ADSs from time to time through the Sales Agents as our sales agents. Sales of the ADSs, if any, will be made by any method that is deemed to be an “at the market offering” as defined in Rule 415 under the Securities Act, including sales made directly on or through the Nasdaq Global Market, on or through any other existing trading market for the ADSs or to or through a market maker.
The Sales Agents will offer the ADSs subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement on a daily basis or as otherwise agreed upon by us and the Sales Agents. We will designate the maximum number or amount of ADSs to be sold through the Sales Agents on a daily basis or otherwise determine such maximum number or amount together with the Sales Agents. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement, the Sales Agents will use commercially reasonable efforts consistent with their normal trading and sales practices to sell on our behalf all of the ADSs requested to be sold by us. We may instruct the Sales Agents not to sell ADSs if the sales cannot be effected at or above a minimum price designated by us in any such instruction. The Sales Agents or we may suspend the offering of the ADSs being made through the Sales Agents under the Sales Agreement upon proper notice to the other parties. The Sales Agents and we each have the right, by giving written notice as specified in the Sales Agreement, to terminate the Sales Agreement at each party’s sole discretion at any time. The offering of the ADSs pursuant to the Sales Agreement will otherwise terminate upon the termination of the Sales Agreement as provided therein.
The compensation payable to the Sales Agents will be an amount of up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any ADSs sold through it pursuant to the Sales Agreement and we will reimburse the Sales Agents for up to $125,000 of their expenses in connection with the establishment of this offering program, in addition to certain ongoing expenses, including fees and disbursements of legal counsel. In accordance with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. Rule 5110, these reimbursed fees and expenses are deemed sales compensation to the Sales Agents in connection with this offering. We estimate that the total expenses of the offering payable by us, excluding compensation payable to the Sales Agents under the Sales Agreement, will be approximately $250,000.
The remaining sales proceeds, after deducting any expenses payable by us and any transaction fees imposed by any governmental, regulatory or self-regulatory organization in connection with the sales of the ADSs, will equal our net proceeds for the sale of such ADSs.
The Sales Agent responsible for a particular day’s sales will provide written confirmation to us no later than the next succeeding trading day on the Nasdaq Global Market after each such day on which ADSs are sold through such Sales Agent under the Sales Agreement. Each confirmation will include the amount or number of ADSs sold through such Sales Agent on that day, the volume-weighted average price of the ADSs sold, the percentage of the daily trading volume and the net proceeds to us from such sales.
Settlement for sales of ADSs will occur, unless the parties agree otherwise, on the second trading day following the date on which any sales were made in return for payment of the net proceeds to us. There is no arrangement for funds to be received in an escrow, trust or similar arrangement. We will report at least biannually the number of ADSs sold through the Sales Agents under the Sales Agreement, the net proceeds to us and the compensation paid by us to the Sales Agents in connection with the sales of shares of common stock during the relevant period.
In connection with the sale of the ADSs on our behalf pursuant to the Sales Agreement, each Sales Agent will be deemed to be an “underwriter” within the meaning of the Securities Act and the compensation paid to the Sales Agents will be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. We have agreed in the Sales Agreement to provide indemnification and contribution to the Sales Agents with respect to certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. As sales agents, the Sales Agents will not engage in any transactions that stabilize the ADSs.
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The Sales Agents and/or its affiliates have provided, and may in the future provide, various investment banking and other financial services for us for which services they have received, and may in the future receive, customary fees.
This prospectus and the accompanying base prospectus in electronic format may be made available on a website maintained by us and the Sales Agents may distribute this prospectus and the accompanying base prospectus electronically.
The address of SVB Securities is 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. The address of Cantor is 499 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022.
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Latham & Watkins LLP is representing us with respect to certain legal matters as to United States federal securities and New York State law. The Sales Agents are being represented by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP with respect to certain legal matters as to United States federal securities and New York State law. The validity of our Ordinary Shares represented by the ADSs and certain other matters of Cayman Islands law will be passed upon for us by Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP. Certain legal matters as to PRC law will be passed upon for us by Han Kun Law Offices. Latham & Watkins LLP may rely upon Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP with respect to matters governed by Cayman Islands law and Han Kun Law Offices with respect to matters governed by PRC law.
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The financial statements incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.
The office of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP is located at 6/F, DBS Bank Tower, 1318 Lu Jia Zui Ring Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.
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WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form F-3 under the Securities Act. We have also filed a related registration statement on Form F-6 with the SEC to register the ADSs. This prospectus, which is part of the registration statement, does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules to the registration statement. For further information, we refer you to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed as part of the registration statement. If a document has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement, we refer you to the copy of the document that has been filed. Each statement in this prospectus relating to a document filed as an exhibit is qualified in all respects by the filed exhibit.
We are subject to the informational requirements of the Exchange Act. Accordingly, we will be required to file reports and other information with the SEC, including annual reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K. The SEC maintains an internet website that contains reports and other information about issuers, like us, that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is www.sec.gov.
As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt under the Exchange Act from, among other things, the rules prescribing the furnishing and content of proxy statements, and our board members, executive officers, and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we will not be required under the Exchange Act to file periodic reports and consolidated financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act.
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INCORPORATION OF INFORMATION BY REFERENCE
We file annual and special reports and other information with the SEC. These filings contain important information which does not appear in this prospectus. The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” information into this prospectus, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to other documents which we have filed or will file with the SEC. We are incorporating by reference in this prospectus the documents listed below and all amendments or supplements we may file to such documents, as well as any future filings we may make with the SEC on Form 20-F under the Exchange Act before the time that all of the securities offered by this prospectus have been sold or de-registered:
| • | the description of our Ordinary Shares contained in our registration statement on Form 8-A, filed with the SEC on March 12, 2021, and any amendment or report filed with the SEC for the purpose of updating the description; |
| • | our Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-40212) filed with the SEC for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022; and |
| • | the information specifically incorporated by reference herein from our reports of foreign private issuer on Form 6-K filed with the SEC on May 3, 2022, May 5, 2022, May 9, 2022, June 10, 2022 and June 17, 2022. |
In addition, any reports on Form 6-K we submit to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to the Exchange Act after the date of the initial registration statement and prior to effectiveness of the registration statement that we specifically identify in such forms as being incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, all subsequent annual reports on Form 20-F filed after the effective date of this registration statement and prior to the termination of this offering, and any reports on Form 6-K subsequently submitted to the SEC or portions thereof that we specifically identify in such forms as being incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, shall be considered to be incorporated into this prospectus by reference and shall be considered a part of this prospectus from the date of filing or submission of such documents.
Certain statements in and portions of this prospectus update and replace information in the above-listed documents incorporated by reference. Likewise, statements in or portions of a future document incorporated by reference in this prospectus may update and replace statements in and portions of this prospectus or the above-listed documents. In the case of a conflict or inconsistency between information contained in this prospectus and information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, you should rely on the information contained in the document that was filed later.
We will provide you without charge, upon your written or oral request, a copy of any of the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, other than exhibits to such documents which are not specifically incorporated by reference into such documents.
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ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES
We are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability. We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands to take advantage of certain benefits associated with being a Cayman Islands exempted company, such as:
| • | political and economic stability; |
| • | an effective judicial system; |
| • | a favorable tax system; |
| • | the absence of exchange control or currency restrictions; and |
| • | the availability of professional and support services. |
However, certain disadvantages accompany incorporation in the Cayman Islands. These disadvantages include but are not limited to:
| • | the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States and these securities laws provide significantly less protection to investors as compared to the United States; and |
| • | Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the federal courts of the United States. |
Our constituent documents do not contain provisions requiring that disputes, including those arising under the securities laws of the United States, between us, our officers, directors and shareholders, be arbitrated.
A substantial part of our operations is conducted in the PRC, and substantially all of our operational assets and certain of our directors and officers are located in the PRC. As a result, it may not be possible to effect service of process upon us or our directors and officers, including with respect to matters arising under U.S. federal securities laws or applicable state securities laws. Even if an investor obtains a judgment against us or our directors or officers in a U.S. court or other court outside the PRC, an investor may not be able to enforce such judgment against us or them in the PRC. The PRC does not have treaties providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts in the United States or most other western countries. Therefore, recognition and enforcement in the PRC of judgments of a court in any of these jurisdictions may be difficult or impossible. In addition, investors may not be able to bring original actions in the PRC based on the U.S. or other non-PRC laws against us or our directors or officers. As a result, shareholder claims that are common in the United States, including class actions based on securities law and fraud claims, are difficult or impossible to pursue as a matter of law and practicality in the PRC.
We have appointed Connect Biopharm LLC, as our agent upon whom process may be served in any action brought against us under the securities laws of the United States. The United States and the Cayman Islands do not have a treaty providing for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters and that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands would (i) recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers, predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States, or (ii) entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands against us or our directors or officers, predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. A judgment obtained in any federal or state court in the United States will be recognized and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, provided such judgment (i) is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction, (ii) imposes on the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which the judgment has been given, (iii) is final, (iv) is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty, and (v) was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands.
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However, the Cayman Islands courts are unlikely to enforce a judgment obtained from the United States courts under the civil liability provisions of the securities laws if such judgment is determined by the courts of the Cayman Islands to give rise to obligations to make payments that are penal or punitive in nature. Because the courts of the Cayman Islands have yet to rule on whether such judgments are penal or punitive in nature, it is uncertain whether such civil liability judgments from U.S. courts would be enforceable in the Cayman Islands.
There is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the PRC would:
| • | recognize or enforce judgments of United States courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States; or |
| • | entertain original actions brought in each respective jurisdiction against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. |
The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law and other applicable laws and regulations based either on treaties between the PRC and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. The PRC does not have any treaties or other form of reciprocity with the United States or the Cayman Islands that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, courts in the PRC will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our directors and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC law or national sovereignty, security or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States or in the Cayman Islands. Under the PRC Civil Procedures Law, foreign shareholders may originate actions based on PRC law against a company in the PRC for disputes if they can establish sufficient nexus to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction, and meet other procedural requirements, including, among others, the plaintiff must have a direct interest in the case, and there must be a concrete claim, a factual basis and a cause for the suit. It will be, however, difficult for U.S. shareholders to originate actions against us in the PRC in accordance with PRC laws because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and it will be difficult for U.S. shareholders, by virtue only of holding the ADSs or ordinary shares, to establish a connection to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction as required under the PRC Civil Procedures Law.
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Up to $150,000,000 of
American Depositary Shares
Representing Ordinary Shares
Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited
PROSPECTUS
SVB Securities
Cantor
, 2022
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PART II
INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS
Item 8. Indemnification of directors and officers
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime.
Our amended and restated articles of association provide that we shall indemnify our directors and officers (each an indemnified person) against all actions, costs, charges, expenses, losses, and damages incurred or sustained by such indemnified person, other than by reason of such person’s own dishonesty, willful default or fraud, in or about the conduct of our company’s business or affairs (including as a result of any mistake of judgment) or in the execution or discharge of his duties, powers, authorities or discretions as a director or officer of our company, which is to include without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any costs, expenses, losses or damages incurred by such indemnified person in defending (whether successfully or otherwise) any civil proceedings concerning our company or its affairs in any court whether in the Cayman Islands or elsewhere.
Pursuant to the indemnification agreements, the form of which was filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Registration Statement on Form F-1, as amended (File No. 333-253631), which was declared effective by the SEC on March 18, 2021, we agree to indemnify our directors and executive officers against certain liabilities and expenses incurred by such persons in connection with claims made by reason of their being such a director or officer.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
Item 9. Exhibits
The exhibits listed on the exhibit index at the end of this Registration Statement have been furnished together with this Registration Statement.
Item 10. Undertakings
(a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:
(i) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:
(1) to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;
(2) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the Registration Statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or any decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement; and
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(3) to include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement;
provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(i)(1), (a)(i)(2) and (a)(i)(3) of this section do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, or is contained in a form of prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) that is part of the Registration Statement.
(ii) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(iii) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
(iv) To file a post-effective amendment to the Registration Statement to include any financial statements required by Item 8.A of Form 20-F at the start of any delayed offering or throughout a continuous offering. Financial statements and information otherwise required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 need not be furnished, provided, that the registrant includes in the prospectus, by means of a post-effective amendment, financial statements required pursuant to this paragraph (a)(4) and other information necessary to ensure that all other information in the prospectus is at least as current as the date of those financial statements. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a post-effective amendment need not be filed to include financial statements and information required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 or Rule 3-19 of Regulation S-X if such financial statements and information are contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in this Form F-3.
(v) That, for the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser:
(1) each prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) shall be deemed to be part of the Registration Statement as of the date the filed prospectus was deemed part of and included in the Registration Statement; and
(2) each prospectus required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2), (b)(5) or (b)(7) as part of a registration statement in reliance on Rule 430B relating to an offering made pursuant to Rule 415(a)(1)(i), (vii) or (x) for the purpose of providing the information required by section 10(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the earlier of the date such form of prospectus is first used after effectiveness or the date of the first contract of sale of securities in the offering described in the prospectus. As provided in Rule 430B, for liability purposes of the issuer and any person that is at that date an underwriter, such date shall be deemed to be a new effective date of the registration statement relating to the securities in the registration statement to which that prospectus relates, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such effective date, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such effective date.
(vi) That, for the purpose of determining liability of the undersigned registrant under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities of the undersigned registrant, the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of its securities pursuant to this Registration
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Statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:
(1) any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;
(2) any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned registrant;
(3) the portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and
(4) any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser.
(b) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933 and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933 and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
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EXHIBIT INDEX
| * | To be filed as an exhibit to a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement or as an exhibit to a report of foreign private issuer on Form 6-K to be filed under the Exchange Act and incorporated herein by reference. |
| ** | Previously filed with the Registration Statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-264340) filed with the SEC on April 15, 2022. |
| *** | Previously filed with the Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-40212), filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022. |
| **** | Previously filed with Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Statement on Form F-1 (File No. 333-253631), filed with the SEC on March 12, 2021. |
| ^ | Previously filed with the Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-254524), filed with the SEC on March 19, 2021. |
| † | Filed herewith. |
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Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form F-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in Taicang, the People’s Republic of China, on June 17, 2022.
| CONNECT BIOPHARMA HOLDINGS LIMITED | ||
| By: | /s/ Zheng Wei, Ph.D. | |
| Name: Zheng Wei, Ph.D. | ||
| Title: Chief Executive Officer | ||
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated:
| Signature and Name |
Title |
Date | ||
| /s/ Zheng Wei, Ph.D. Zheng Wei, Ph.D. |
Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board (Principal Executive Officer) |
June 17, 2022 | ||
| /s/ Steven Chan Steven Chan |
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) |
June 17, 2022 | ||
| * Wubin Pan, Ph.D. |
President and Chairman of the Board | June 17, 2022 | ||
| * Kan Chen, Ph.D. |
Member of the Board | June 17, 2022 | ||
| * Derek DiRocco, Ph.D. |
Member of the Board | June 17, 2022 | ||
| * Jean Liu |
Member of the Board | June 17, 2022 | ||
| * Karen J. Wilson |
Member of the Board | June 17, 2022 | ||
| * Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D. |
Member of the Board | June 17, 2022 | ||
| *By: | /s/ Zheng Wei, Ph.D. | |
| Zheng Wei, Ph.D. | ||
| Attorney-in-fact | ||
II-5
Table of Contents
SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE IN THE UNITED STATES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the undersigned, the duly authorized representative in the United States of Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited has signed this registration statement on June 17, 2022.
| Connect Biopharm LLC | ||||
| By: | /s/ Zheng Wei, Ph.D. | |||
| Name: | Zheng Wei, Ph.D. | |||
| Title: | Authorized Signatory | |||
II-6
Exhibit 23.2
CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
We hereby consent to the incorporation by reference in this Amendment No. 2 to Registration Statement on Form F-3 of Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited of our report dated March 31, 2022 relating to the financial statements, which appears in Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021. We also consent to the reference to us under the heading “Experts” in such Registration Statement.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP
Beijing, the People’s Republic of China
June 17, 2022
Exhibit 23.3
| 33/F, HKRI Centre Two, HKRI Taikoo Hui, 288 Shimen Road (No. 1), Jing’an District Shanghai 200041, PRC Tel: +86 21 6080 0909 Fax: +86 21 6080 0999 Beijing ● Shanghai ● Shenzhen ● Hong Kong www.hankunlaw.com |
|
June 17, 2022
To: Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited (the “Company”)
Science and Technology Park, East R&D Building, 3rd Floor
6 Beijing West Road, Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China
Dear Sirs/Madams,
We hereby consent to the reference of our name under the headings “Our Company—General Information” and “Legal Matters” in the base prospectus and the headings “Prospectus Summary—General Information” and “Legal Matters” in the sales agreement prospectus contained in the Company’s registration statement on Form F-3 (File No.: 333-264340), including all amendments and supplements thereto (the “Registration Statement”), filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 (as amended) in relation to the proposed offering from time to time of up to US$300,000,000 in the aggregate of American Depositary Shares, each representing one ordinary share of the Company, par value $0.000174 per share.
We also consent to the filing of this consent letter with the SEC as an exhibit to the Registration Statement.
In giving such consent, we do not thereby admit that we come within the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act of 1933, or under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in each case, as amended, or the regulations promulgated thereunder.
Yours faithfully,
| /s/ HAN KUN LAW OFFICES |
| HAN KUN LAW OFFICES |
CONFIDENTIALITY. This document contains confidential information which may be protected by privilege from disclosure. Unless you are the intended or authorised recipient, you shall not copy, print, use or distribute it or any part thereof or carry out any act pursuant thereto and shall advise Han Kun Law Offices immediately by telephone, e-mail or facsimile and return it promptly by mail. Thank you.