Attorneys from Mintz, Cohn, Ferris,Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. represented TPG Special Situations Partners ("TSSP") in the closing of a direct private placement of $250 million for Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) of 7.75% Senior Secured Notes due in 2020 with investment vehicles managed by affiliates of TSSP, the dedicated special situations and credit platform with over $12 billion of assets under management, and part of TPG, a leading global private investment firm. Nektar used a portion of the proceeds from the 7.75% Senior Secured Notes to redeem all of its currently outstanding $125 million of 12.0% Senior Secured Notes due in 2017.

Nektar had approximately $280 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2015. The company reiterates its financial guidance for 2015 net use of cash of approximately $63 million, excluding this financing transaction.

The 7.75% notes are callable by Nektar beginning in October 2017, subject to certain prepayment premiums and conditions. The Senior Secured Notes are not subject to financial performance targets. The offer and sale of the notes is exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933. For further details on the terms and conditions of the Senior Secured Notes, please refer to the Form 8-K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Senior Secured Notes and related note guarantees have not been registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy such notes or note guarantees and is issued in accordance Rule 135c under the Securities Act.

TSSP, with over $12 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2015, is the dedicated special situations and credit platform of TPG, a leading global private investment firm with approximately $75 billion of assets under management and 17 offices around the world. TSSP has extensive experience with highly complex, global public and private investments executed through primary originations, secondary market purchases and restructurings. Since its inception, TSSP has invested in the healthcare space including working with companies and academic institutions on royalty monetization transactions, debt financings, late stage clinical trial fundings, and other healthcare related financings.

Nektar Therapeutics has a robust R&D pipeline in pain, oncology, hemophilia and other therapeutic areas. In the area of pain, Nektar has an exclusive worldwide license agreement with AstraZeneca for MOVANTIKTM (naloxegol), the first FDA-approved once-daily oral peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA) medication for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC), in adult patients with chronic, non-cancer pain. The product is also approved in the European Union as MOVENTIG® (naloxegol) and is indicated for adult patients with OIC who have had an inadequate response to laxatives. The AstraZeneca agreement also includes NKTR-119, an earlier stage development program that is a co-formulation of MOVANTIK and an opioid. NKTR-181, a wholly-owned mu-opioid analgesic molecule for chronic pain conditions, is in Phase 3 development. NKTR-171, a wholly-owned new sodium channel blocker being developed as an oral therapy for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain, is in Phase 1 clinical development. In hemophilia, ADYNOVATETM [Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant)], a longer-acting PEGylated Factor VIII therapeutic has been filed for approval in the U.S. by partner Baxalta Inc. In anti-infectives, Amikacin Inhale is in Phase 3 studies conducted by Bayer Healthcare as an adjunctive treatment for intubated and mechanically ventilated patients with Gram-negative pneumonia.

Nektar's technology has enabled nine approved products in the U.S. or Europe through partnerships with leading biopharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca's MOVANTIKTM, UCB's Cimzia® for Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, Roche's PEGASYS® for hepatitis C and Amgen's Neulasta® for neutropenia.

Nektar is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional operations in Huntsville, Alabama and Hyderabad, India. Further information about the company and its drug development programs and capabilities may be found online at http://www.nektar.com/ (http://www.nektar.com/).

Leading the transaction on behalf of TSSP was Richard Gervase, a Member of Mintz’s Intellectual Property Practice. Other Mintz attorneys included Paul Ricotta, a Member of the Bankruptcy Practice and Jennifer Dereka, Muriel Liberto and Boris Matvenko, Of Counsel in the firm’s IP Practice.  In addition, Evelyne Guillouet, Jay Hickey, Kahlil Mitchell and Heike Radeke assisted in the transaction.   The law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP served as co-counsel on the transaction.

Click here for the full TSSP and Nektar press release.