Item 1.01. | Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement. |
Agreement and Plan of Merger
On December 30, 2024, Galera Therapeutics, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Galera”), acquired Nova Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Nova”), in accordance with the terms of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated December 30, 2024 (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among Galera, Grape Merger Sub I, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of Galera (“First Merger Sub”), Grape Merger Sub II, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of Galera (“Second Merger Sub”), and Nova. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, First Merger Sub merged with and into Nova, pursuant to which Nova was the surviving corporation and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Galera (the “First Merger”). Following the First Merger and as part of the same overall transaction as the First Merger, Nova will merge with and into Second Merger Sub, pursuant to which Second Merger Sub will become the surviving entity (the “Surviving Entity”) (the “Second Merger”, together with the First Merger, the “Merger”). The Merger is intended to constitute an integrated transaction that qualifies as a “reorganization” within the meaning of Section 368(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, at the closing of the Merger which occurred upon execution of the Merger Agreement (the “Closing”), Galera issued to the securityholders of Nova (i) zero (0) shares of the common stock of Galera, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”) and (ii) 119,318.285 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share, designated as Series B Non-Voting Convertible Preferred Stock (“Series B Preferred Stock”), each share of which is convertible into 1,000 shares of Common Stock, subject to certain conditions described below. Reference is made to the discussion of the Series B Preferred Stock in Item 5.03 of this Current Report on Form 8-K, which is incorporated into this Item 1.01 by reference.
Certain shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately after the Merger are held by stockholders subject to lock-up restrictions, pursuant to which such stockholders have agreed, except in limited circumstances, not to offer, pledge, sell or transfer, or engage in swap or similar transactions with respect to, shares of the Common Stock, including, as applicable, shares received in the Merger and issuable upon exercise of certain options or warrants or settlement of a restricted stock units for a period of 90 days following the closing of the Merger.
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, no earlier than twelve (12) months following the Closing, but no later than eighteen (18) months following the Closing, Galera will submit the following matters to its stockholders at a meeting of stockholders (the “Stockholders’ Meeting”) for their consideration: (i) the approval of the conversion of the Series B Preferred Stock into shares of Common Stock (the “Conversion Proposal”); (ii) the approval of an amendment to Galera’s certificate of incorporation to effect a reverse stock split and/or increase the number of authorized shares of Parent Common Stock to such amount as determined by the Parent Board following the Closing; and (iii) the approval of one or more adjournments of the Stockholders’ Meeting to solicit additional proxies if there are not sufficient votes cast in favor of the foregoing matters (collectively, the “Meeting Proposals”).
The board of directors of Galera (the “Board”) unanimously approved the Merger Agreement and the related transactions, and the Closing was not subject to approval by Galera’s stockholders.
The foregoing description of the Merger and the Merger Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Merger Agreement, which is filed as Exhibit 2.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
The Merger Agreement has been included to provide investors and securityholders with information regarding its terms. It is not intended to provide any other factual information about Galera or Nova. The Merger Agreement contains representations, warranties and covenants that Galera and Nova made to each other as of specific dates. The assertions embodied in those representations, warranties and covenants were made solely for purposes of the Merger