UNITED STATES

 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

  

FORM 8-K
 
CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

 
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): March 3, 2020
 
SPHERIX INCORPORATED
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware 000-05576 52-0849320

(State or other jurisdiction

of incorporation) 

(Commission

File Number) 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.) 

 

One Rockefeller Plaza, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10020
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
 
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (703) 992-9325
 
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
 

 

Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
   
Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
   
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
   
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13a-4(c))

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

 

Emerging growth company ☐

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $0.0001 par value SPEX The Nasdaq Capital Market

 

 

 

 

Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

 

On March 3, 2020, Spherix Incorporated, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with certain purchasers named therein (the “Purchasers”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell, in a best-efforts registered direct offering by the Company directly to the Purchasers (the “Registered Offering”) 3,245,745 shares (the “Shares”) of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), and common warrants (the “Common Warrants”) to purchase up to 7,142,858 shares of Common Stock and the shares of Common Stock that are issuable from time to time upon exercise of the Common Warrants, at a public offering price of $1.05 per share of Common Stock and Common Warrant. The Company also offered 3,897,113 pre-funded warrants (the “Pre-Funded Warrants”) to purchase shares of Common Stock to certain Purchasers whose purchase of shares of Common Stock in the Registered Offering would otherwise result in such Purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owning more than 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of the Company’s outstanding Common Stock immediately following the consummation of the Registered Offering.

 

The purchase price of each Pre-Funded Warrant was equal to the price at which a share of Common Stock was sold to the public in the Registered Offering, minus $0.0001, and the exercise price of each Pre-Funded Warrant was $0.0001 per share.  The Pre-Funded Warrants are immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time until all of the Pre-Funded Warrants are exercised in full. The Shares and Pre-Funded Warrants, and the accompanying Common Warrants, could only be purchased together in this offering but will be issued separately and will be immediately separable upon issuance. Each Common Warrant will have an exercise price of $1.05 per share of Common Stock, will be exercisable upon issuance, and will expire five years from the date of issuance.

 

The Registered Offering resulted in gross proceeds of approximately $7.5 million before deducting the placement agent’s fee and related offering expenses.

  

The Purchase Agreement contains customary representations and warranties and agreements of the Company and the Investors and customary indemnification rights and obligations of the parties. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company has agreed to certain restrictions on the issuance and sale of its Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents (as defined in the Purchase Agreement) during the 90-day period following the closing of the Registered Offering.

 

The Shares, the Pre-Funded Warrants, the Common Warrants, and the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants and the Common Warrants were offered by the Company pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 333- 236199), which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on January 31, 2020, and was declared effective by the Commission on March 3, 2020 (the “Registration Statement”).

 

The Registered Offering closed on March 5, 2020.

 

Placement Agent’s Fees and Expenses

 

Pursuant to an engagement agreement, dated January 24, 2020, the Company engaged H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC (the “Placement Agent”) to act as the Company’s exclusive placement agent in connection with the Registered Offering, on a reasonable best efforts basis. The terms of the Registered Offering were subject to market conditions and negotiations between us, the Placement Agent, and prospective investors. The Placement Agreement received a cash fee equal to 8.0% of the aggregate gross proceeds raised in the Registered Offering, a management fee of $75,000 (equal to 1.0% of the aggregate gross proceeds raised in Registered Offering, a $30,000 non-accountable expense allowance payable to the Placement Agent, and the reimbursement of certain other expenses related to the Registered Offering.

 

We issued to the Placement Agent warrants (the “Placement Agent’s Warrants”) to purchase 571,429 shares of Common Stock, which represents 8.0% of the number of shares of Common Stock (including the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants) being sold in the Registered Offering.

 

The Company also agreed to pay the Placement Agent, subject to certain exceptions, a tail fee equal to the cash and warrant compensation in the Registered Offering, if any Purchasers, who was contacted or introduced to the Company by the Placement Agent during the term of its engagement, provide the Company with capital in any public or private offering or other financing or capital raising transaction during the 12-month period following expiration or termination of the Company’s engagement of the Placement Agent.

 

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Lock-Up Agreements 

 

The Company’s officers, directors and each of their respective affiliates and associated persons agreed with the Placement Agent to be subject to a lock-up period of 90 days after the date of the Purchase Agreement. This means that, during the applicable lock-up period, such persons may not offer for sale, contract to sell, sell, distribute, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of Common Stock or any securities convertible into, or exercisable or exchangeable for, shares of Common Stock. Certain limited transfers are permitted during the lock-up period if the transferee agrees to these lock-up restrictions. The Company also agreed to similar lock-up restrictions on the issuance and sale of our securities for 90 days following the closing of the Registered Offering, subject to certain customary exceptions.

 

The foregoing summaries of the Purchase Agreement, the Pre-Funded Warrants, the Common Warrants, and the Placement Agent Warrants do not purport to be complete and are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by, such documents attached as Exhibits 10.49, 4.9, 4.11 and 4.10, respectively, to the Registration Statement.

 

On March 3, 2020, the Company issued a press release announcing the pricing of the Registered Offering. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.

 

This Current Report on Form 8-K does not constitute an offer to sell any securities or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits

(d) Exhibits

 

Exhibit No.   Description
     
99.1   Press Release, dated March 3, 2020.

 

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SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

 

  SPHERIX INCORPORATED
   
  By:  /s/ Anthony Hayes
 

Name:

Title:

Anthony Hayes
Chief Executive Officer

Dated: March 9, 2020

  

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Exhibit 99.1

 

SPHERIX LOGO. (PRNEWSFOTO|SPHERIX INCORPORATED)

Spherix Announces Pricing of $7.5 Million Public Offering

NEW YORK, March 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Spherix Incorporated (SPEX) ("Spherix" or the "Company"), a technology development company committed to the fostering of innovative ideas, today announced that it has priced a public offering of an aggregate of 7,142,858 shares of common stock (or common stock equivalents) of the Company and warrants to purchase up to 7,142,858 shares of common stock. Each share of common stock (or common stock equivalent) is being sold together with one warrant to purchase one share of common stock, at a public offering price of $1.05 per share and accompanying warrant.  The shares of common stock (or common stock equivalents) and the accompanying warrants are being sold together in this offering, but will be issued separately and will be immediately separable upon issuance. The warrants are exercisable immediately and expire five years from the date of issuance.  Each warrant has an exercise price of $1.05.

H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as the exclusive placement agent for the offering.

The gross proceeds to Spherix from this offering are expected to be approximately $7.5 million, before deducting the placement agent's fees and other estimated offering expenses payable by Spherix. This offering is expected to close on or about March 5, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes. 

The offering is being conducted pursuant to the registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-236199), as amended, previously filed with and subsequently declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 3, 2020. A final prospectus relating to the offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Electronic copies of the final prospectus relating to this offering, when available, may be obtained by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, 430 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, New York 10022, by email at placements@hcwco.com or by telephone at 646-975-6996. Before investing in this offering, interested parties should read in their entirety the registration statement that the Company has filed with the SEC, which provides additional information about the Company and this offering.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

About Spherix

Spherix was initially formed in 1967 and is currently a biotechnology company with a diverse portfolio of small-molecule anti-cancer therapeutics.  The Company's platform consists of patented technology from leading universities and researchers and we are currently in the process of developing an innovative therapeutic drug platform through strong partnerships with world renowned educational institutions, including The University of Texas at Austin and Wake Forest University. Our diverse pipeline of therapeutics includes therapies for pancreatic cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In addition, we are constantly seeking to grow our pipe to treat unmet medical needs in oncology. 

 

 

 

Forward-Looking Statements

To the extent any statements made in this news release deal with information that is not historical, these are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the company's plans, objectives, expectations  and intentions with respect to future operations and products, the potential of the company's technology and product candidates, the anticipated timing of future clinical trials, and other statements that are not historical in nature, particularly those that utilize terminology such as "would," "will," "plans," "possibility," "potential," "future," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "continue," "expects," other words of similar meaning, derivations of such words and the use of future dates. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Uncertainties and risks may cause the Spherix's actual results to be materially different than those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Particular uncertainties and risks include: our ability to satisfy the closing conditions of the public offering,  the closing of the public offering; the use of proceeds of the offering; market and other conditions; the difficulty of developing pharmaceutical products; obtaining regulatory and other approvals and achieving market acceptance; general business and economic conditions; the company's need for and ability to obtain additional financing or partnering arrangements; and the various risk factors (many of which are beyond Spherix's control) as described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the preliminary prospectus and Spherix's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on management's current beliefs and expectations. Spherix undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Company Contact:

Investor Relations:  Hayden IR
  Brett Maas, Managing Partner
  Phone: (646) 536-7331
  Email: brett@haydenir.com  
  www.haydenir.com
   
Spherix:  Phone: 212-745-1373
  Email: investorrelations@spherix.com
  www.spherix.com