AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO SCHEDULE 13D
This amendment to Schedule 13D is being filed by Access Industries Holdings LLC (“AIH”), Access Industries Management, LLC (“AIM”), Access Industries, LLC (“Access LLC”), Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. (“CBI”) and Len Blavatnik (collectively, the “Reporting Persons”, and each, a “Reporting Person”) relating to the American Depositary Shares, no par value (“ADSs”), evidenced by American Depositary Receipts, each of which represents five ordinary shares, no par value per share (the “Ordinary Shares”), of Anchiano Therapeutics Ltd. (the “Issuer”). As a result of CBI’s relationships with the other Reporting Persons, it is possible that CBI may be deemed a member of a “group”, within the meaning of Rule13d-5(b)(1) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), with such other Reporting Persons. CBI is making this filing as a precautionary matter and this filing shall not be deemed an admission that CBI is a member of a group or is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 of the Exchange Act.
The Schedule 13D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 21, 2019 (the “Schedule”) is hereby amended and supplemented by the Reporting Persons as set forth below in this Amendment No. 1. This amendment is filed by the Reporting Persons in accordancewith Rule 13d-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and refers only to information that has materially changed since the filing of the Schedule. The items identified below, or the particular paragraphs of such items which are identified below, are amended as set forth below. Unless otherwise indicated, all capitalized terms used and not defined herein have the respective meanings assigned to them in the Schedule.
Item 4 | Purpose of Transaction |
The disclosure in Item 4 is hereby amended and restated in its entirety to read as follows:
The Reporting Persons who hold Ordinary Shares and ADSs directly acquired those securities as an investment in the regular course of their businesses. On November 11, 2019, Ofer Gonen, the Chief Executive Officer of CBI, was appointed to the Issuer’s board of directors (the “Board”). In addition, Isaac Kohlberg, a member of the CBI board of directors, currently serves on the Board. Effective December 31, 2019, Robert Connelly, a consultant to CBI, resigned as a member of the Board.
On December 27, 2019, CBI submitted a demand letter to the Company, in accordance with applicable Israeli law, to convene a special general meeting of shareholders of the Issuer for the purposes of removing four current members of the Board and appointing two designees of CBI to the Board. The demand letter was withdrawn by CBI on December 29, 2019, on the understanding that the Issuer will undertake to convene its annual general meeting of shareholders as promptly as practicable to submit to shareholders proposals to reconstitute the membership of the Board on a basis consistent with the prior demand letter.
The Reporting Persons intend to monitor and evaluate their investment on an ongoing basis and expect to regularly review and consider alternative ways of maximizing their return on such investment. Depending on prevailing market conditions, other investment opportunities, liquidity requirements or other investment considerations the Reporting Persons deem material, the Reporting Persons may from time to time acquire additional ADSs or Ordinary Shares in the open market, block trades, negotiated transactions, or otherwise. The Reporting Persons may also dispose of all or a portion of the Issuer’s securities, in open market or privately negotiated transactions, and/or enter into derivative transactions with institutional counterparties with respect to the Issuer’s securities, in each case, subject to limitations under applicable law.
In exploring ways to maximize their investment, and as part of their ongoing investment activities, CBI has and may continue to engage in, and the Reporting Persons may generally, engage in discussions with representatives of the Issuer and/or other holders of the Issuer’s securities and, from time to time, suggest or take a position regarding, or participate in, a variety of matters relating to the Issuer, which may include, among other things, the Issuer’s business, operations, Board composition, management, corporate governance, strategy, dividends, capital structure or its control, strategic alternatives and direction. To facilitate their consideration of such matters, the Reporting Persons may retain consultants and advisors and may enter into discussions with potential sources of capital and other third parties and may exchange information with any such persons pursuant to appropriate confidentiality or similar agreements. The Reporting Persons will likely take some or all of the foregoing steps at preliminary stages in their consideration of various possible courses of action, before forming any intention to pursue any particular plan or direction. The Reporting Persons have not yet determined which, if any, of the above courses of action they may ultimately take, including, but not limited, further actions with respect to the appointment of additional members to the Board. The Reporting Persons’ future actions with regard to the Issuer are dependent on their evaluation of the factors listed above, circumstances affecting the Issuer in the future, including prospects of the Issuer, general market and economic conditions and other factors deemed relevant. The Reporting Persons reserve the right to determine in the future whether to change the purpose or purposes described above or whether to adopt plans or proposals of the type specified above or otherwise.