Seres Therapeutics, Inc. a leading microbiome therapeutics firm, said today that it has entered into a new $250 million senior secured loan facility Term Loan Facility financed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. Oaktree . At closing, the Company received the first tranche of $110 million, with three additional tranches available.
These additional tranches include $90 million in two $45 million tranches based on the achievement of certain applicable VOWST sales targets, and an additional $50 million available to the Company at Oaktree’s discretion to support potential future business development activities.
After deducting fees and expenses, the net proceeds to the Company are approximately $50 million, representing roughly $53 million of the $110 million advanced by Oaktree at closure.
The interest rate on the Term Loan Facility is equal to the three-month secured overnight financing rate (“SOFR”) + 7.875%, with a maximum annual rate of 12.875%.
The Term Loan Facility is planned to maturity six years after funding and has an initial interest-only period of three years, which may be extended to six years if specific VOWST sales targets are met.
Oaktree Capital is a global leader in debt and royalty financing for the health sciences industry. Since 2020, Oaktree funds have contributed over $3 billion in 31 investments for firms across the healthcare spectrum.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as the Company’s sole structuring agent. Seres was represented by Latham & Watkins LLP, while Oaktree was represented by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
Seres therapies, Inc. is a commercial-stage firm focused on the development of new microbiome therapies for critical diseases.
VOWSTTM, Seres’ lead program, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in April 2023 as the first orally administered microbiota-based therapeutic to prevent recurrence of C.
difficile infection (CDI) in adults following antibacterial treatment for recurrent CDI and is being commercialized in collaboration with Nestlé Health Science.
Seres is testing SER-155 in a Phase 1b study in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to reduce gastrointestinal infections, bloodstream infections, and graft-versus-host disease, as well as other preclinical stage programs aimed at Infection Protection in medically compromised patients.
In addition, the company is conducting research to help guide future development of microbiome therapies for ulcerative colitis.
