Common Stock

Each share of the Company’s common stock entitles the holder to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of the Company’s stockholders. Common stockholders are entitled to dividends when and if declared by the Board of Directors. In the event of any voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding-up of the Company, the holders of common stock are entitled to share ratably in the assets of the Company available for distribution.

At the Market (“ATM”) Offering

On November 19, 2021, the Company entered into an ATM Offering Agreement (the “ATM Agreement”) with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, as the exclusive sales agent (“Wainwright”), pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time through Wainwright, shares of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share. The offer and sale of the shares will be made pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-260201) and the related prospectus, filed with the SEC on October 12, 2021 and declared effective on October 22, 2021, and is currently limited to a number of shares of up to $4,000,000 of common stock pursuant to General Instruction I.B.6 of Form S-3.

Pursuant to the ATM Agreement, Wainwright may sell the shares in sales deemed to be “at-the-market” equity offerings as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act, including sales made directly on or through the Nasdaq Capital Market. If agreed to in a separate terms agreement, the Company may sell shares to Wainwright as principal, at a purchase price agreed upon by Wainwright and the Company. Wainwright may also sell shares in privately negotiated transactions with the Company’s prior approval. Sales of the shares through Wainwright, if any, will be made in amounts and at times to be determined by the Company from time to time, but the Company has no obligation to sell any of the shares and either the Company or Wainwright may at any time suspend offers under the agreement or terminate the agreement. Actual sales will depend on a variety of factors to be determined by the Company from time to time, including (among others) market conditions, the trading price of the Company’s common stock and determinations by the Company of the appropriate sources of funding for the Company. The offer and sale of the shares pursuant to the ATM Agreement will terminate upon the earlier of (a) the issuance and sale of all of the shares subject to the ATM Agreement or (b) the termination of the ATM Agreement by Wainwright or the Company pursuant to the terms thereof.

No shares were sold under the ATM Agreement during the year ended December 31, 2021. The Company incurred $0.1 million of costs associated with the ATM which have been recorded within prepaid expenses and other current assets on the December 31, 2021 consolidated balance sheet.

Private Placement

On July 26, 2021, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement in connection with a private placement pursuant to which the Company issued and sold in a private placement priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules, (i) 950,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (ii) warrants to purchase an aggregate of 4,629,630 shares of the Company’s common stock, with an exercise price of $3.30 per share (the “Series A Warrants”) which expire three and one half years from the earlier of (a) the six month anniversary of the initial exercise date and (b) the date that the registration statement registering all of the warrant shares underlying the Series A Warrants is declared effective, and (iii) pre-funded warrants to purchase up to 3,679,630 shares of the Company’s common stock, with an exercise price of $0.001 per share (the “Series B Warrants”) with no expiration (the “Private Placement”), at a purchase price of $2.70 per one share and one Series A Warrant and $2.699 per one Series B Warrant and one Series A Warrant. The Private Placement closed on July 28, 2021 resulting in gross proceeds from the Private Placement of approximately $12.5 million, before deducting placement agent fees and offering expenses, and excluding the exercise of any such warrants. Net proceeds from the Private Placement were $11.5 million.

On July 26, 2021, in connection with the Private Placement, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement pursuant to which the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-3 to register for resale the shares, as well as the shares of the Company’s common stock issuable upon exercise of the Series A Warrants and the Series B Warrants, which was declared effective on August 23, 2021.

The Series B Warrants were immediately exercisable at a price of $0.001 per share of common stock. The holders of the Series B Warrants did not have the right to exercise any portion of the Series B Warrants if the holder (together with its affiliates) would beneficially own in excess of 4.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership was determined in accordance with the terms of the Series B Warrants. The holder, upon notice to the Company, could increase or decrease the beneficial ownership limitation provisions, provided that the beneficial ownership limitation in no event exceeds 9.99% of the number of shares of the common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of a warrant held by the holder. Any increase in the beneficial ownership limitation would not be effective until the 61st day after notice is delivered to the Company. The Series B Warrants had an intrinsic value of approximately $9.3 million. During the year ended December 31, 2021, all of the Series B Warrants to purchase 3,679,630 shares of common stock were exercised resulting in $3,679 of net proceeds to the Company. As a result, no Series B Warrants were outstanding as of December 31, 2021.

The Series A Warrants are immediately exercisable at a price of $3.30 per share of common stock. The holders of the Series A Warrants will not have the right to exercise any portion of the Series A Warrants if the holder (together with its affiliates) would beneficially own in excess of 4.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of the Series A Warrants. The holder, upon notice to the Company, may increase or decrease the beneficial ownership limitation provisions, provided that the beneficial ownership limitation in no event exceeds 9.99% of the number of shares of the common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of a warrant held by the holder. Any increase in the beneficial ownership limitation will not be effective until the 61st day after notice is delivered to the Company. The Company evaluated the terms of the warrants issued and determined that they should be classified as equity instruments. The grant date fair value of these warrants was estimated to be $1.98 per share, for a total of approximately $9.2 million. The fair value of these warrants was estimated using a Black-Scholes model utilizing the following key valuation assumptions: the Company’s stock price, a risk free rate of 0.49%, an expected life of 3.6 years and an expected volatility of 138.76%. No Series A Warrants were exercised during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Registered Direct Offering

On December 10, 2020, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain institutional and accredited investors named therein, pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell, in a registered direct offering, 2,448,980 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, at an offering price of $2.45 per share. The net proceeds to the Company from the 2020 offering were approximately $5.4 million, after deducting expenses of $0.6 million, including the placement agent’s fees and related offering expenses. The shares were offered by the Company pursuant to a prospectus supplement to the Company’s effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-227572), which was initially filed with the SEC on September 27, 2018, and was declared effective on October 12, 2018. The 2020 offering closed on December 14, 2020. 

Authorized Share Increase

On December 4, 2020, shareholders of the Company voted to approve an amendment to the Company’s Articles of Incorporation to increase the authorized shares of common stock to 50,000,000 shares (the “Authorized Share Increase”). The Company filed a Certificate of Amendment to the Company’s Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of the State of Nevada to effect the Authorized Share Increase as of December 4, 2020.

Series A Preferred Stock

The Company has designated 1,000,000 shares as Series A preferred stock with each share having a par value of $0.001 and stated value of $4.80 (the “Series A Preferred Stock”). The following is a summary of the material terms of the Series A Preferred Stock.

Liquidation.    Upon any dissolution, liquidation or winding up, whether voluntary or involuntary, holders of Series A Preferred Stock will be entitled to receive distributions out of the Company’s assets, of an amount equal to the stated value per share of Series A Preferred Stock (as adjusted for stock splits, combinations, reorganizations and the like) plus any accrued and unpaid dividends thereon before any distributions shall be made on the common stock or any series of preferred stock ranked junior to the Series A Preferred Stock.

Dividends.    Holders of the Series A Preferred Stock are entitled to receive a non-cumulative cash dividend at an annual rate of 5% of the stated value per share of Series A Preferred Stock, when and if declared by the Company’s Board, out of the Company’s assets legally available therefor. No dividends or other distribution will be made on the common stock or any series of preferred stock ranked junior to the Series A Preferred Stock unless the dividend on the Series A Preferred Stock has been paid current and a reserve has been made for the next calendar year. The Company’s ability to pay dividends on Series A Preferred Stock is subject to restrictions in the Company’s Series B Preferred Stock, which ranks senior to the Series A Preferred Stock in right of payment.

Conversion.    Series A Preferred Stock is convertible, at any time and from time to time at the option of the holder thereof, with a minimum of 61 days’ advance notice to the Company, at a rate of twelve shares of Series A Preferred Stock to one share of common stock basis.

Redemption.    Upon 30 days’ prior written notice, the Company may require the holder of any Series A Preferred Stock to convert any or all of such holder’s Series A Preferred Stock to common stock at a rate of twelve shares of Series A Preferred Stock to one share of common stock basis.

The Series A Preferred Stock has additional terms covering stock dividends and splits, voting rights, fractional shares and fundamental transactions. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, there were approximately 1.0 million shares of Series A Preferred Stock issued and outstanding which are convertible into 80,834 shares of common stock. There were no Series A Preferred Stock conversions during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Series B Preferred Stock

The Company has designated 2,500,000 shares as Series B preferred stock with each share having a stated value of $4.00 per share (the “Series B Preferred Stock”). The following is a summary of the material terms of the Company’s Series B Preferred Stock.

Liquidation.    Upon any dissolution, liquidation or winding up, whether voluntary or involuntary, holders of Series B Preferred Stock will be entitled to receive distributions out of the Company’s assets of an amount equal to the stated value per share of Series B Preferred Stock (as adjusted for stock splits, combinations, reorganizations and the like) plus any accrued and unpaid dividends thereon and any other fees or liquidated damages then due and owing thereon under the amended and restated certificate of designation before any distributions shall be made on the common stock or any series of preferred stock ranked junior to the Series B Preferred Stock, which includes Series A Preferred Stock. A fundamental transaction or change of control under the amended and restated certificate of designation shall constitute a liquidation for purposes of this right. Xenetic will give each holder of Series B Preferred Stock written notice of any liquidation at least 30 days before any meeting of stockholders to approve such liquidation or at least 45 days before the date of such liquidation if no meeting is to be held.

Dividends.    Subject to any preferential rights of any outstanding series of preferred stock created by the Company’s Board from time to time, the holders of shares of the Company’s Series B Preferred Stock will be entitled to such cash dividends, non-cumulative, as may be declared from time to time by the Company’s Board on shares of the Company’s common stock (on an as-converted basis) from funds available therefore. The Company shall not directly or indirectly pay or declare any dividend or make any distribution upon, nor shall any distribution be made in respect of, any junior securities, including Series A Preferred Stock, as long as any dividends due on the Series B Preferred Stock remain unpaid, nor shall any monies be set aside for or applied to the purchase or redemption of any junior securities or shares pari passu with the Series B Preferred Stock.

Conversion.     Series B Preferred Stock is convertible, at any time and from time to time at the option of the holder thereof, at a rate of one preferred share to approximately 0.33 common share basis, subject to an issuable maximum and the adjustments described below. There were no Series B Preferred Stock conversions during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Subsequent Equity Sales.    The Series B Preferred Stock has ratchet price based anti-dilution protection, subject to customary carve outs, in the event of a down-round financing at a price per share below the stated value of the Series B Preferred Stock. There is no bifurcation of the embedded conversion option being clearly and closely related to the host instrument.

The Series B Preferred Stock has additional terms covering stock dividends and splits, voting rights, fractional shares and fundamental transactions. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, there were approximately 1.8 million shares of Series B Preferred Stock issued and outstanding which are convertible into approximately 0.6 million shares of common stock in each year, respectively, which represents the issuable maximum that can be issued upon the conversion of the currently outstanding Series B Preferred Stock.

Warrants Related to Collaboration and Consulting Agreements

In connection with certain of the Company’s collaboration agreements and consulting arrangements, the Company had issued warrants to purchase shares of common stock as payment for services. No collaboration warrants were outstanding as of December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2020, collaboration warrants to purchase 30,307 shares of common stock were outstanding, respectively. The fair value of these warrants was determined at each issuance date using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The warrants were subject to re-measurement at each reporting period until the measurement date was reached. Expense was recognized on a straight-line basis over the expected service period or at the date of issuance if there is not a service period. The Company did not recognize warrant expense related to collaboration agreements during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, collaboration warrants to purchase 30,307 shares and 2,015 shares expired, respectively. No collaboration or consulting service warrants were granted or exercised during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Warrants Related to Financing Arrangements

In addition to the Series A Warrants issued in connection with the July 2021 Private Placement discussed above, warrants to purchase approximately 31,000 and 0.4 million shares of the Company’s common stock related to financing arrangements were outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, as described below.

Publicly traded warrants to purchase approximately 23,000 and 29,000 shares of common stock were outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. These warrants have an exercise price of $13.00 per share and expire on July 17, 2024. The warrants trade on NASDAQ under the symbol “XBIOW.” The warrants also provide that if the weighted-average price of common stock on any trading day on or after 30 days after issuance is lower than the then-applicable exercise price per share, each warrant may be exercised, at the option of the holder, on a cashless basis for one share of common stock. Warrants to purchase approximately 6,000 shares and 0.2 million shares of common stock were exercised on a cashless, one-for-one basis during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. None of these warrants were forfeited during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Warrants to purchase approximately 8,000 shares of the Company’s common stock were outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and 2020. These warrants have an exercise price of $2.91 per share and expire on July 3, 2026. None of these warrants were exercised or forfeited during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Warrants to purchase approximately 129,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $27.00 per share were outstanding as of December 31, 2020. These warrants were exercisable beginning on September 8, 2019 and expire on September 8, 2026. On November 15, 2021, the Company entered into a letter agreement with the holders of these warrants to exchange such warrants for an aggregate of approximately 52,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The Company recorded a gain of approximately $41,000 as a result of this exchange as the fair value of the warrants immediately before the exchange was more than the fair value of the shares issued in the exchange. As a result, all of these warrants were cancelled and none were outstanding as of December 31, 2021.

In addition to the financing warrants discussed above, the Company had additional outstanding debt and equity financing warrants to purchase an aggregate of approximately 0.2 million shares of common stock as of December 31, 2020. All of these debt and equity financing warrants expired unexercised during the year ended December 31, 2021. As a result, none of these debt and equity warrants were outstanding as of December 31, 2021.