Vivo Capital Issues Letter to Sinovac Biotech Shareholders Addressing the Company’s False and Misleading Claims - Seite 3
5.
Vivo’s capital contributions were critical to successful development and commercialization of COVID-19 vaccine. At the beginning of 2020, Sinovac’s Beijing operating entity Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd. (“SLS”) was in a dire situation, as the capital required for the development and production of CoronaVac far exceeded its available funds. Vivo aided in at least three ways:
- First, the cash injection from the PIPE investment enabled Sinovac to provide approximately $24 million in total to SLS for CoronaVac’s development.
- Second, when 1Globe’s protracted lawsuit led to the NASDAQ trading halt and prevented Sinovac from securing additional financing, Vivo and its co-investor each provided $7.5 million to SLS through a convertible bond structure in May 2020, ensuring the successful completion of CoronaVac’s clinical trials. Vivo made this investment notwithstanding the significant uncertainties around CoronaVac’s viability and profitability as it had not even completed its Phase I clinical trial at that time.
- Third, Vivo introduced additional investors to SLS, who subsequently provided $527 million of much-needed additional capital for ramping up CoronaVac’s production at the end of 2020. SLS enjoyed a higher valuation in this round, because by then China had approved CoronaVac’s emergency use, Phase III clinical trials were underway globally, a key production facility had begun operations, and the Company had received vaccine purchase orders from customers.
Vivo’s contributions were vital to the success of CoronaVac and have benefitted all shareholders. By contrast, 1Globe purchased all of its Sinovac shares from the open market without contributing a single dollar, or otherwise providing any support, to the Company.
6.
There is no “double-dip” attempt by Vivo in receiving dividends. The Board misleadingly asserted that Vivo intends to “double‑dip” on dividends. As explained above, Vivo made two separate investments in the Company, including the PIPE investment in the holding company and the convertible bond investment in SLS, both of which were essential in supporting the success of the CoronaVac. These were arm’s length transactions based on public trading price and/or independent third-party fairness opinions. Although SLS has issued dividends (including dividends to Sinovac, the public parent company, proportionate to its ownership), Vivo, like our fellow shareholders, has never received any dividend for its shareholding in the holding company.