New distribution of Company Announcement published on 19 November 2012 ? Unchanged content Copenhagen, 2012-11-30 09:33 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zealand Pharma A/S (NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen: ZEAL), a Danish biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative peptide drugs, announces that the company’s Board of Directors has decided to establish a new warrant program for members of executive management under the authority pursuant to Section 8.1 of the company’s Articles of Association, granted on the General Meeting of 2 November 2010. A similar warrant program was decided and announced in November 2011 (Company Announcement no. 19/2011). The grant of warrants is a reflection of Zealand Pharma’s objective to attract and retain first-rate employees and thus support long-term shareholder value creation. The grant of warrants shall help ensure short and long term common interests between the management and the shareholders of the company. A total of up to 214,883 warrants will be awarded, giving the right to subscription of up to 214,883 new Zealand Pharma shares of DKK 1 nominal value each. The exercise price is fixed at DKK 113.30, reflecting the closing price of the company’s shares on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen on Friday 16 November plus 10%. The exercise of the awarded warrants may take place, in whole or in part, in the period from 19 November 2015 until and including 19 November 2017. The exercise is to be completed within a four week period following the publication of Zealand Pharma’s annual report or interim reports (for the first quarter, first half or first nine months, respectively). Pursuant to Section 28.a of the Danish Securities Trading Act, the following persons who are subject to a reporting obligation will receive warrants under the new program: Name Title Number of warrants David Solomon President and CEO 90.807 Mats Blom SVP and CFO 31.019 John Hyttel SVP and COO 31.019 Christian Grøndahl EVP and CSO 31.019 Arvind M. Hundal SVP and CBO 31.019 The awarded warrants are estimated to have a total market value of approx. DKK 5,105,881, calculated on basis of the Black-Scholes model, including a volatility of 28.5, an interest level of 0.86 % and a share price of DKK 103. The terms of the Warrant program In the event that an employee leaves the company, Sections 4 and 5 of the Danish Act on Exercise of Options or Subscription Rights for Shares etc. in Employment Relationships shall apply. The terms and conditions set forth in this Act imply the following: If the employee leaves the employment by giving notice of termination, the right to exercise granted warrants will lapse. However, where the exercise period of the warrants has commenced before termination of the employment, the warrants may be exercised until the date where the employee leaves the company. The right to be granted options will also lapse after expiry of the employment. In case the employment ceases due to termination by the employer and such termination is not caused by a breach on the part of the employee, the employee retains the right to all granted warrants irrespective of whether the exercise period has commenced before the employee leaves the company. The same applies to the instances described in Section 4 (2) of the Danish Act on Exercise of Options or Subscription Rights for Shares etc. in Employment Relationships (termination due to age/retirement) and Section 4 (3) (termination due to gross breach on the part of the employer). If the employment ceases due to termination by the employer and such termination is caused by a breach on the part of the employee, or in the event that the employee is summarily dismissed for cause, the right to granted warrants will cease as from the date of expiry of the employment. Where the exercise period of the warrants has commenced before termination of the employment, the warrants may be exercised until the date where the employee leaves the company. # # # For further information, please contact: Hanne Leth Hillman, Vice President for IR & Corporate Communication, Tel: +45 5060 3689, hlh@zealandpharma.com About Zealand Pharma Zealand Pharma A/S (NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen: ZEAL) is a biotechnology company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Zealand Pharma specializes in the discovery, optimization and development of novel peptide drugs and has a broad and mature pipeline of drug candidates identified through its own drug discovery activities. The company’s focus lies in the field of diabetes/metabolic diseases, and its lead drug invention is lixisenatide (Lyxumia®)1, a once-daily GLP-1 agonist, which is licensed to Sanofi for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. In November 2012, lixisenatide was given a CHMP positive opinion in Europe and a regulatory filing in the United States is expected in December 2012. Zealand Pharma has a partnering strategy for the development and commercialization of its products and in addition to the collaboration with Sanofi in type 2 diabetes, the company has partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim in diabetes/obesity, Abbott in acute kidney injury and Helsinn Healthcare in chemotherapy induced diarrhea. Zealand Pharma focuses its activities in disease areas where existing treatments fail to adequately serve patient needs and where the market potential for improved treatments through the use of peptide drugs is high. For further information: www.zealandpharma.com 1. Lyxumia is the proprietary name submitted to the EMA for lixisenatide. The proprietary name for lixisenatide in the United States is under consideration. Lixisenatide is not currently approved or licensed anywhere in the world.