Helix (HLXA) Shareholders Approve Moonlake Immunotherapeutics Deal

Helix Acquisition Corp.  (NASDAQ:HLXA) announced this afternoon that its shareholders have voted to approve its combination with biotech firm Moonlake.

At today’s special meeting, a total of 12,048,085, or approximately 81%, of Helix’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares were present.  The business combination was overwhelmingly approved as it received 11,498,788 shares in favor of the transaction and just 549,286 against it.

Prior to the meeting, holders of 8,080,845 shares were redeemed for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.00444 per share, or an aggregate of approximately $80.8 million.  This amounts to 70.368% of shares redeemed, which comes in well under the Q1-2022 average redemption percentage of 84.58%. It is also the sixth best vote of the quarter out of 28 SPAC completion votes.

The parties did not disclose a timeline on the closing of the transaction, but it is expected to close shortly and trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “MLTX”.

Helix initially announced its $360 million combination with Moonlake on October 24. Schweiz, Switzerland-based Moonlake is developing three drugs to treat different forms of psoriasis disorders that are set to enter Phase II trials in 2022.

ADVISORS

• Jefferies LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and SVB Leerink LLC acted as co-lead placement agents for Helix Acquisition Corp. on the PIPE transaction.
• Jefferies also acted as lead capital markets advisor to Helix Acquisition Corp.
• SVB Leerink LLC also acted as financial advisor to Helix Acquisition Corp.
• Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Kellerhals Carrard Basel KIG and Walkers (Cayman) LLP acted as legal counsel to MoonLake.
• White & Case LLP, Pestalozzi Attorneys at Law Ltd, and Maples Group acted as legal counsel to Helix Acquisition Corp.
• Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to the placement agents.