LianBio Announces Wind Down Of Operations, Workforce Reduction; Stock Up In Pre-Market

(RTTNews) - The cross-border biotechnology company, LianBio (LIAN), Tuesday announced that its board has decided to commence wind down of operations, including selling of remaining pipeline assets, delisting American Depository Shares or ADSs from the Nasdaq market, deregistering under the SEC Act, and reducing the workforce.

The company expects that a substantial portion of the winddown will be completed by the end of 2024, and the complete dissolution during the first half of 2027.

Additionally, the company announced a special cash dividend of $4.80 per share, totaling around $528 million, payable to the shareholders on record February 27. The ordinary shareholders will be paid on or about March 11, whereas ADS holders will be paid on March 14.

The company said that it will reduce its workforce by approximately 50 percent or by over 50 full-time employees in the first quarter of 2024, followed by additional layoffs for 2024.

The voluntary delisting from the stock market will come into effect on or about March 18, the company stated.

Konstantin Poukalov, Founder and Executive Chairman of LianBio's Board said, "Following the shift in focus away from mavacamten commercialization and the licensing of rights to NBTXR3 to Janssen, the Board unanimously decided that winding down operations is the way to realize maximum shareholder value in the current biotech market."

Following the announcement, LianBio's stock is climbing 17.57 percent, to $4.75 over the previous close of $4.14 on the Nasdaq in the pre-market.