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Share-Based Compensation
9 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2024
Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Share-Based Compensation
12.
Share-Based Compensation

Pursuant to the terms of the Reverse Recapitalization, upon the Closing Date, each outstanding option to purchase Old enGene’s common shares issued under the Old Plan’s was exchanged for an option to purchase common shares of the Company, and the number

of shares and exercise price of each granted option was adjusted using the exchange ratio of approximately 0.18048. Further, the currency of all exercise prices of the options issued under the Old Plans were converted from CAD to USD using the exchange rate in effect on the day immediately prior to the Closing Date. A retrospective adjustment has been applied to the number of options and exercise price of stock options for all periods presented to reflect the Reverse Recapitalization as discussed further in Note 3.

The Old Plans

Old enGene had an employee share option plan (the “ESOP”) and an equity incentive plan (the “EIP”) (collectively, the “Old Plans”) which was adopted by the Board of Directors, and approved by the shareholders, effective July 5, 2018.

Under the Old Plans, options to purchase non-voting common shares of Old enGene’s shares may be granted to directors, officers, employees, consultants and members of the scientific advisory board. The Old Plans provide for the issuance of stock options up to a maximum of 15% of the aggregate issued and outstanding common shares and non-voting common shares of Old enGene calculated on an as converted and fully diluted basis. The Old Plans were administered by Old enGene’s Board of Directors. Old enGene’s Board of Directors determined the number of options to be granted, the vesting period and the exercise price of new options. It was Old enGene’s policy to establish the exercise price at an amount that approximates the fair value of the underlying shares on the date of grant as determined by Old enGene’s Board of Directors. The options vest in accordance with the vesting terms determined for each grant by Old enGene’s Board of Directors. The vesting terms of Old enGene’s granted stock options with service only conditions are typically 100% vesting immediately upon grant date, or over a three- or four-year service period. Upon the consummation of the Reverse Recapitalization, the Company recognized stock based compensation expense of $0.4 million associated with the acceleration of the vesting for the outstanding awards with service only vesting conditions under the Old Plan. As of July 31, 2024, no unrecognized compensation cost remains for the outstanding awards granted under the Old Plan with service only vesting conditions.

 

On July 7, 2023, the Board of Directors approved the reservation of an additional 1,046,764 non-voting common shares for issuance under the Company’s employee equity incentive plan, revising the number of shares reserved from 1,775,729 to 2,822,493. Also on July 7, 2023, the Company granted 1,046,764 options to employees at an exercise price of $5.87 CAD ($4.24 USD). These options are not exercisable unless and until the completion of the Reverse Recapitalization and there is an effective registration statement for the shares underlying such granted options and will terminate automatically in the event of the termination of the Merger Agreement. The Company has valued these awards at the grant date using Black-Scholes pricing model in which the fair value of the stock on the grant date was equal to the exercise price of the award. The expected term has been determined using management’s best estimate considering the characteristics of the award, contractual life, the timing of the expected achievement of the performance conditions, the remaining time-based vesting period, if any, and comparison to expected terms used by peers. Upon the grant date, 794,643 of the issued options were fully vested, and the remaining 252,121 options will vest over varying terms up to four years on a pro rata basis. The Company recognizes compensation expense when achievement of the performance condition is deemed probable using an accelerated attribution method, as if each vesting tranche was treated as an individual award. During the year ended October 31, 2023, $2.6 million of stock based compensation expense was recorded associated with the 1,046,764 stock options granted in July 2023 because the Reverse Recapitalization was completed and the Company determined that the filing of the registration statement was probable to occur.

Upon the consummation of the Reverse Recapitalization on October 31, 2023, all options outstanding under the Old Plans were exchanged for 2,706,941 shares options to purchase common shares of the Company based on the Exchange Ratio determined in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement. Further, all exercise prices were adjusted by the Exchange Ratio and the currency of the exercise prices was changed from CAD to USD based on the exchange rate in effect on October 30, 2023, the day immediately before the consummation of the Reverse Recapitalization. No incremental compensation cost was recorded as a result of the change in underlying common shares from Old enGene to the Company, or as a result of the change of the exercise prices to reflect the adjustment for the Exchange Ratio and the change in currency from CAD to USD, as it was concluded that the fair value of the awards immediately before and immediately after the modifications did not change. No options remain available for grant under the Old Plans as of October 31, 2023.

The 2023 Plan

On October 31, 2023, upon the completion of the Reverse Recapitalization, the shareholders approved and the Company adopted the enGene Holdings Inc. 2023 Incentive Equity Plan (the "2023 Plan"), which superseded the Old Plans. The 2023 Plan authorizes the award of incentive stock options, or ISOs, non-qualified stock options, or NQSOs, Stock Units, Stock Appreciation Rights, or SARs, and other share-based awards including performance awards and share bonus awards.

The number of shares initially reserved for issuance under the 2023 Plan is 2,607,943 Common Shares, plus 2,706,941 common shares subject to the outstanding grants under the Old Plans, and shall automatically increase on January 1 of each calendar year beginning in 2024 by a number of shares equal to the lesser of 1,946,226 Common Shares and such lesser number as may be determined by the Board. The Common Shares authorized under the 2023 Plan increased by 1,946,226 on January 1, 2024. As of July 31, 2024, the total number of Common Shares reserved for issuance under the 2023 Plan is 7,261,110, and there are 2,871,761 shares remaining for issuance.

The 2023 Plan is administered by the Board or, at the discretion of the Board, by a committee of the Board. The exercise prices, vesting and other restrictions are determined at the discretion of the Board, or its committee if so delegated, except that the exercise price per share of stock options may not be less than 100% of the fair market value of the Common Shares on the date of grant and the term of stock option may not be greater than ten years. Common Shares that are expired terminated, surrendered or cancelled under the 2023 Plan without having been fully exercised will be available for future awards.

On May 15, 2024, the shareholders of the Company approved changes to the 2023 Plan. The original 2023 Plan contained an evergreen provision (the “Evergreen Provision”) pursuant to which, commencing with the first business day of each calendar year beginning in 2024, the aggregate number of the Company’s Common Shares that could be issued or transferred thereunder (the “Plan Share Reserve”) and the number of Common Shares available for options intended to qualify as incentive stock options (the “ISO Sublimit”) each increased by a number of Common Shares equal to the lesser of (x) 1,946,226 Common Shares and (y) such lesser number of Common Shares as may be determined by the Compensation Committee. Pursuant to the Amended and Restated enGene Holdings Inc. 2023 Incentive Equity Plan, on May 15, 2024, the Evergreen Provision was amended to provide for annual increases on the first business day of each calendar year of (i) the Plan Share Reserve by such number of Common Shares as equals 5% of the aggregate number of Common Shares outstanding on the final day of the immediately preceding calendar year (or such smaller number of shares as is determined by the compensation committee), and (ii) the ISO Sublimit by the lesser of 2,500,000 Common Shares and the increase in the Plan Share Reserve (or such smaller number of shares may be determined by the compensation committee of the Company’s board of directors).

CEO Inducement Grant

 

On July 22, 2024, in connection with entering into the employment agreement with the Chief Executive Officer (the “CEO”), the Company granted an inducement equity award consisting of a non-qualified stock option to purchase 1,250,000 of the Company’s common shares (the “CEO Inducement Grant”). The CEO Inducement Grant was an inducement material to the CEO entering into employment with the Company in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) and was granted outside of the Company’s 2023 Plan. The option awarded has an exercise price of $8.81 per share, which is equal to the closing stock price of the Company on the date of the grant and vest over four years, with 25% of the underlying shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the grant date and the remainder vesting in equal amounts monthly for three years thereafter, subject to continued service. The option has a term of 10 years from the date of the grant. As of July 31, 2024, none of the awards granted under the CEO Inducement Grant have vested, expired, or been forfeited, and all options remain outstanding.

Stock Options

The assumptions that the Company used to determine the grant-date fair value of stock options during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2024 and 2023 are summarized below:

 

 

Three months ended July 31,

 

 

Nine months ended July 31,

 

 

2024

 

 

2023

 

 

2024

 

 

2023

 

Expected term (in years)

 

5.51 - 6.08

 

 

5.2 - 6.08

 

 

5.51- 6.08

 

 

5.12 - 6.08

 

Expected volatility

 

81.64 - 82.33%

 

 

80.02 - 81.48%

 

 

78.24 - 82.33%

 

 

80.02 - 82.70%

 

Risk-free interest rate

 

4.16 - 4.22%

 

 

4.29 - 4.35%

 

 

4.16 - 4.66%

 

 

3.56 - 4.35%

 

Expected dividend yield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fair value of common shares and exercise price of options (USD)

 

$ 8.65 - 9.00

 

 

$

1.06

 

 

$ 7.66 - 17.80

 

 

$ 0.38 - 1.06

 

Fair value of common shares and exercise price of options (CAD)

 

N/A

 

 

$

0.79

 

 

N/A

 

 

$ 0.28 - 0.79

 

 

 

The following table summarizes the Company’s stock option activity:

 

 

Number of
Shares

 

 

Weighted-
Average
Exercise
Price (USD)

 

 

Weighted-
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Term (in years)

 

 

Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value

 

Outstanding as of October 31, 2023

 

 

2,706,941

 

 

$

2.40

 

 

 

8.1

 

 

$

52,192

 

Granted

 

 

3,025,200

 

 

 

10.44

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercised

 

 

(113,964

)

 

 

0.89

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forfeited or expired

 

 

(92,792

)

 

 

7.63

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outstanding as of July 31, 2024

 

 

5,525,385

 

 

$

6.67

 

 

 

7.7

 

 

$

20,720

 

Vested and exercisable as of July 31, 2024

 

 

2,467,941

 

 

$

2.29

 

 

 

5.1

 

 

$

17,791

 

Options unvested as of July 31, 2024

 

 

3,057,444

 

 

$

10.20

 

 

 

9.7

 

 

$

2,929

 

 

The aggregate intrinsic value of share options is calculated as the difference between the exercise price of the share options and the fair value of the Company’s common share as of each reporting period.

The weighted-average grant-date fair value per share of share options granted during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2024 was $6.38 and $7.48, respectively. The weighted-average grant date fair value per share of share options granted during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2023 was $0.56 and $0.50, respectively.

Former CEO Modification of Employment Agreement

 

On February 13, 2024, the Company (through its subsidiary, enGene USA, Inc.) entered into a Transition and Modification Agreement (the "Transition Agreement") with the Company's former Chief Executive Officer, Jason Hanson, which amended and modified the Employment Agreement, dated November 8, 2023, between Mr. Hanson and enGene USA (the “Hanson Employment Agreement”). On July 23, 2024, the Company (through its subsidiary, enGene USA, Inc.) and Mr. Hanson entered into the Amendment to Transition and Modification Agreement (the “TMA Amendment”), which further amended the Hanson Transition Agreement. Under the terms of the Hanson Employment Agreement as amended by the Transition Agreement and TMA Amendment (the “Amended Employment Agreement”) Mr. Hanson is entitled to:

(i)
twelve months of continued health insurance benefits;
(ii)
payment of a 2024 target annual bonus in the amount of $390,000, less applicable taxes and withholdings;
(iii)
acceleration and vesting of any then unvested time-based equity awards that would have vested in the twelve-month period following such termination; and
(iv)
extension of the period to exercise his vested equity awards to three years following the later of date of termination of his employment or the date of termination of the Consulting Period (as defined below), but in no event shall the post-termination exercise period of the CEO’s vested equity awards extend beyond the respective applicable term thereof.

 

The Transition Agreement further provided that, in the event Mr. Hanson were to resign upon the appointment by the Company of a new chief executive officer, Mr. Hanson would be immediately engaged in a consulting role to provide transition services as a Senior Strategic Advisor to the Company for a period of at least six months following the effective date of resignation (the “Consulting Period”) in exchange for a monthly fee of $25,000 for the initial six-month Consulting Period, and $500 per hour thereafter, provided that Mr. Hanson need not devote more than fifteen (15) hours per week to providing such transition services.

Under the Transition Agreement, the 1,216,266 stock option awards issued to Mr. Hanson were modified to allow for an extended exercise period as described above. The modification resulted in an incremental share-based compensation expense of $1.0 million which was recorded upon the effective date of the Transition Agreement.

 

Pursuant to the Amended Employment Agreement, (a) upon the termination of Mr. Hanson’s employment by the Company without Cause (as defined in the Amended Employment Agreement) or by Mr. Hanson for Good Reason (as defined in the Amended

Employment Agreement), in addition to the above severance benefits, Mr. Hanson would also have been entitled to 12 months’ base salary continuation or, if such event were to have occurred during a change of control period (as described in the Amended Employment Agreement), 18 months’ base salary continuation.

 

Mr. Hanson resigned effective as of July 19, 2024 in connection with the Company’s appointment of a new chief executive officer. On July 20, 2024, enGene appointed Ronald H. W. Cooper as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and as director of the Company's Board.

Share-based Compensation Expense

Share-based compensation expense included in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss was as follows:

 

 

Three months ended July 31,

 

 

Nine months ended July 31,

 

 

2024

 

 

2023

 

 

2024

 

 

2023

 

Research and development

 

$

776

 

 

$

7

 

 

$

1,306

 

 

$

19

 

General and administrative

 

 

684

 

 

30

 

 

 

2,362

 

 

77

 

Total share-based compensation expense

 

$

1,460

 

 

$

37

 

 

$

3,668

 

 

$

96

 

 

As of July 31, 2024, there was $20.2 million of unrecognized compensation, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.61 years.