Significant Shareholder Believes Company is Undervalued Given its
Assets, Which Include NicVAX Nicotine Addiction Vaccine
Advocates More Aggressive Share Repurchase Program
DellaCamera Capital Management, LLC (“DCM”),
a shareholder owning in excess of 6% of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:
NABI) common stock, today sent a letter to the Board of Directors of
Nabi expressing their belief that the Company’s
stock is reflecting an irrationally low value for Nabi’s
assets, which include the Company’s novel
NicVAX nicotine addiction compound. DCM believes that the Company has
the flexibility to pursue an aggressive share repurchase program in
light of this low valuation while not jeopardizing its ability to
further NicVAX development and partnering discussions.
The full text of the letter follows:
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October 10, 2008
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The Board of Directors
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Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
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12276 Wilkins Avenue
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Rockville, MD 20852
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Ladies and Gentlemen:
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As you may be aware, entities advised by DellaCamera Capital Management,
LLC (“DCM”) are
significant shareholders of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (“Nabi”
or the “Company”)
common stock and currently hold over 3.2 million shares, or over 6% of
the Company. As we have previously articulated, we believe that the
steps taken to date by the Board of Directors (the “Board”)
to re-position Nabi have been sound. Furthermore, the positive interim
results of Nabi’s recent NicVAX
immunogenicity study give us further comfort as to the potential success
of this novel and exciting vaccine.
Unfortunately for Nabi shareholders, the turmoil in today’s
financial markets is wreaking undue havoc on the Company’s
stock price. To wit, at Nabi’s current stock
price of $3.11 per share, the Company has an equity market
capitalization of approximately $162 million, and an enterprise value of
approximately $42 million. Thus, the market is “saying”
that the Company’s NicVax and StaphVax
programs, PhosLo royalty interests, and approximately $109 million of
NOLs as of 12/29/07 are worth approximately $42 million! We view this as
ridiculous and hopefully the Board shares our belief as to the
irrationally low valuation that is being afforded to the Company. To put
this undervaluation in perspective, recall that Cytos Biotechnology AG
signed a license agreement with Novartis for their NIC002 Phase 2
nicotine addiction vaccine, entitling Cytos to receive up to
approximately $500 million plus royalties upon completion of certain
milestones. We hasten to add that Cytos recently announced that Novartis
is initiating another Phase 2 for
NIC002, putting NicVax potentially 6 months to 1 year ahead of NIC002 in
terms of development.
We know of few companies trading for as low a value as Nabi that have
100% ownership to essentially a Phase 3 compound targeting as large and
as under-served a market as the nicotine addiction market. Indeed, we
believe that Pfizer’s smoking-cessation drug
Chantix was on a path to generate over $1 billion in annual revenue
before the recent and unfortunate side-effect profile of the drug became
apparent, and we believe that Sanofi’s
discontinuation of their anti-smoking drug dianicline leaves a
significant un-met need for safe and effective smoking-cessation
therapies. It is our opinion that NicVAX would be viewed as a highly
attractive asset for a number of pharmaceutical companies, many of whom
have a heightened need for pipeline products targeting large markets.
While we acknowledge the irrationality of the markets, however, we must
also recognize that Nabi’s stock price may
have a direct effect on the prices that a potential acquiror or partner
may ascribe to the Company or its various compounds. Indeed, we are very
cognizant of the negotiating leverage that third-parties may derive if
they are allowed to use a company’s
artificially low stock price to their advantage. As such, we advocate
that the Company pursue a more aggressive repurchase program for some of
its shares, to be effected in a timely manner. Given Nabi’s
current cash balance of approximately $160 million as of 6/30/08, we
believe Nabi has the flexibility to pursue an aggressive repurchase
program such a Dutch tender while not jeopardizing its ability to
further NicVAX development and partnering discussions.
As one of the largest shareholders of Nabi, you no doubt appreciate our
desire to see Nabi optimally positioned to deliver value. We have
previously offered to make ourselves available to discuss creative
options to deliver this value and this posture has only strengthened. As
such, we look forward to a more expansive dialogue with the Company in
the near future.
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Sincerely,
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/s/
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Richard P. Mansouri
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Portfolio Manager
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Media:
Sard Verbinnen & Co.
Dan Gagnier/Renee Soto,
212-687-8080