Hedge fund Shah Capital will end its proxy campaign against the re-election of three broad directors at Covid-19 vaccine maker Novavax after the company signed a licensing deal with French drugmaker Sanofi.
Under the terms of the deal, which was signed on 10 May, Sanofi is paying up to $1.2bn to acquire a 4.9% stake in Novavax with a $500m upfront payment as well as an additional $700m, contingent on certain milestone and royalties targets being achieved.
According to a press statement, the terms of the agreement include a co-exclusive license to co-commercialise Novavax’s current stand-alone adjuvanted Covid -19 vaccine worldwide (except in countries with existing advance purchase agreements as well as in India, Japan and South Korea, where Novavax has existing partnership agreements), as well as a sole license to Novavax’s adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine for use in combination with Sanofi’s flu vaccines, and a non-exclusive license to use the Matrix-M adjuvant in vaccine products.
Ass wells the board re-elections, Shah Capital, which owns a stake of around 7.8% in Novavax, had also opposed proposals related to executive compensation. In a statement Shah said that the Sanofi agreement was a “long-awaited step in the right direction”.
