BREAKING NEWS – Baker Bros. Didn’t Buy More Shares of Atreca Biotech, and the Company Will Only Immediately Distribute 5-7c per Share Upon Liquidation

Investors have bid Atreca Bio (BCEL) up over 120% today on the mistaken assumption that the Baker Brothers fund has increased its stake in the company. This is from an SC 13G filing this morning stating that the Baker Bros now own 7.7M shares, upping their ownership to 19.9% of the company. However, this isn’t from buying more shares, but from simply converting their Class B shares to Class A shares. For all we know, the Baker Bros are now selling their stake today.

From the SC 13G filing:

BCEL has almost zero assets left and is about to be liquidated. On 12/26/23, BCEL filed an 8-K stating that they predict investors will only receive 5-7c in cash per share upon the liquidation of the company. This is repeated in their Preliminary Proxy filing on 1/5/24.

And in the future, current shareholders have the rights to potentially receive an extra payout of up to 17c. But we believe that 17c extra is unlikely. Therefore, the absolute maximum that investors will receive from their BCEL position is 24c per share in cash. But that’s the best case scenario, and it would be years before they receive the additional payout, if at all.