DellaCamera Sends Letter to Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Board of Directors
Friday, October 10, 2008 10:36 AM
Symbols: NABI

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:

October 10, 2008
 
The Board of Directors
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
12276 Wilkins Avenue
Rockville, MD 20852
 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

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.

Sincerely,
/s/
Richard P. Mansouri
Portfolio Manager

Media:
Sard Verbinnen & Co.
Dan Gagnier/Renee Soto, 212-687-8080

(Source: Business Wire )

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