[6-K] SEALSQ Corp Current Report (Foreign Issuer)

Rhea-AI Filing Summary

SEALSQ Corp (NASDAQ: LAES) has entered into a definitive agreement to raise approximately $60 million through a registered direct offering. On 14 July 2025 the company signed a Securities Purchase Agreement with institutional investors to issue 15 million Ordinary Shares at a combined price of $4.00 per share, each accompanied by one Class A and one Class B warrant.

Both warrant series are immediately exercisable, expire on 15 July 2032 and carry an exercise price of $4.60. Full exercise would add a further 30 million shares, taking total potential issuance to 45 million. The warrants include anti-dilution adjustments, cashless-exercise mechanics and a 4.99% (optionally 9.99%) beneficial-ownership cap. Class A warrants feature an additional Black-Scholes cash-put right upon a qualifying Fundamental Transaction.

Maxim Group LLC is acting as placement agent and will receive a 7% fee on gross proceeds plus up to $40,000 in reimbursable expenses. The transaction is being conducted under SEALSQ’s effective Form F-3 shelf (File No. 333-286098). Closing is expected on 15 July 2025, subject to customary conditions. The company does not intend to list the warrants on any exchange.

Investors gain clarity on near-term liquidity—net proceeds (after fees) will strengthen the balance sheet—yet face material dilution from the primary share issuance and any future warrant exercises.

Positive

• Approximately $60 million in gross proceeds will bolster liquidity without incurring debt.
• Cashless exercise option allows future warrant conversion without additional registration hurdles, possibly easing future capital inflow.
• Shelf registration (Form F-3) already effective accelerates transaction timetable and indicates regulatory preparedness.

Negative

• Potential issuance of up to 45 million shares (including warrants) could materially dilute existing shareholders.
• 7% placement fee plus expenses reduces net proceeds and adds to transaction cost.
• Black-Scholes cash-put right on Class A warrants may create a future cash drain if a Fundamental Transaction occurs.
• Warrants will not be exchange-listed, limiting liquidity and potentially increasing price volatility.

Insights

Financial Analyst

TL;DR – $60 M cash infusion offsets but does not eliminate sizable dilution; overall neutral impact.

The offering delivers immediate gross proceeds of approximately $60 million, enhancing SEALSQ’s liquidity without adding debt. Use of a shelf registration streamlines execution and signals preparedness. However, investors must consider the 15 million primary shares plus up to 30 million warrant shares—potentially a very large increase in float. At an exercise price only 15% above the offering price, warrants are squarely in the money should the stock appreciate modestly, increasing dilution risk. The 7-year term also prolongs this overhang. Placement fees of roughly $4.2 million are typical. Because proceeds are not earmarked, estimating return on capital is difficult. Net effect is broadly neutral: balance-sheet strength countered by dilution.

Risk Analyst

TL;DR – High dilution potential and putable Class A warrants tilt risk profile negative.

Issuing securities equal to, or potentially exceeding, many small-cap floats materially alters ownership dynamics. The Class A warrant’s Black-Scholes cash-put right in a Fundamental Transaction could force a sizeable cash outlay exactly when the company may be negotiating a merger or sale, complicating strategic flexibility. Non-listed warrants reduce secondary-market price discovery, making hedging harder for investors and raising volatility. The 4.99%/9.99% beneficial-ownership cap limits immediate concentration but does not prevent coordinated exercise. Overall, the structure raises shareholder and transactional risk, earning a negative impact rating.

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

 

 

FORM 6-K

 

 

Report of Foreign Private Issuer

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 under the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

For the month of July 2025

 

Commission File Number: 001-41709

 

 

 SEALSQ CORP

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

 

 

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

 

 

British Virgin Islands	Avenue Louis-Casaï 58 1216 Cointrin, Switzerland  	Not Applicable
 	 	 
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(Address of principal executive office)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F:

☒ Form 20-F         ☐ Form 40-F

 

 

S-1 

 

 

Registered Direct Offering

 

Securities Purchase Agreement

 

On July 14, 2025, SEALSQ Corp (the “Company”) entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement” or “SPA”) with several institutional investors named therein (the “Investors”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell and issue (i) 15,000,000 Ordinary Shares, par value US$0.01 per share (our “Ordinary Shares”), (ii) Class A warrants to purchase up to 15,000,000 Ordinary Shares on or prior to the date that is seven years after the date such warrants are issued (the “Class A Warrants”), (iii) up to 15,000,000 Ordinary Shares issuable upon the exercise of the Class A Warrants, (iv) Class B warrants to purchase up to 15,000,000 Ordinary Shares on or prior to the date that is seven years after the date such warrants are issued (the “Class B Warrants”, and together with the “Class A Warrants”, the “Warrants” ), and (v) up to 15,000,000 Ordinary Shares issuable upon the exercise of the Class B Warrants, in a registered direct offering (the “Offering”). Each Ordinary Share sold in the Offering will be accompanied by one Class A Warrant and one Class B Warrant at a combined offering price of $4.00. Each Warrant is exercisable for one Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $4.60 per Ordinary Share. The closing of the Offering is expected to occur on July 15, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

 

The gross proceeds to the Company from the Offering are expected to be approximately $60,000,000.00, before deducting the placement agent’s fees and other estimated offering expenses payable by the Company.

 

The Offering was made pursuant to the Company’s existing shelf registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-286098), which was declared effective on April 2, 2025 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Registration Statement”). A prospectus supplement to the Registration Statement is expected to be filed with the Commission on or around July 15, 2025 (the “Closing Date”).

 

Placement Agency Agreement

 

On July 14, 2025, the Company entered into a placement agency agreement (the “Placement Agency Agreement”) with Maxim Group LLC (the “Placement Agent”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to pay the Placement Agent an aggregate fee equal to 7% of the aggregate gross proceeds received by the Company from the sale of the Ordinary Shares and Warrants in the Offering. The Company also agreed to reimburse the Placement Agent for up to $40,000 in accountable expenses, including the Placement Agent’s legal counsel’s fees.

 

Warrants

 

The Class A Warrants and Class B Warrants will each be issued as individual warrant instruments to the investors. The Class A Warrants and the Class B Warrants are identical in terms of Warrant holders’ rights and our obligations thereunder except for the put right granted to holders of Class A Warrants described below under “Fundamental transactions”. The form of Class A Warrant and Class B Warrant is filed as an exhibit to this Current Report on Form 6-K.

 

· Exercisability and duration

 

Each of the Warrants is exercisable immediately on or after the issuance date and at any time prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 15, 2032 (the “Expiration Date”) for the purchase of Ordinary Shares (the “Warrant Shares”). The Warrants are exercisable via “cashless” exercise in the absence of an effective registration statement registering the issuance of the Warrant Shares to the Warrant holders.

 

· Exercise Price

 

The exercise price per Ordinary Share purchasable upon the exercise of the Warrants is $4.60 per Ordinary Share. The exercise price of the Warrants and the number of Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise are subject to applicable adjustment in the event of certain share dividends and distributions, share splits, share combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting our Ordinary Shares.

 

· Fractional shares

 

No fractional Ordinary Shares are to be issued upon the exercise of Warrants. In lieu of a fractional Ordinary Share, we will, upon exercise, either pay a cash adjustment in respect of such final fraction in an amount equal to such fraction multiplied by the exercise price or round up to the nearest whole number the number of Ordinary Shares to be issued upon such exercise.

 

· Exercise limitations

 

A holder will not have the right to exercise any portion of the Warrants if the holder (together with its affiliates) would beneficially own in excess of 4.99% of the total number of issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares immediately after giving effect to such exercise except that upon at least 61 days’ prior notice from the holder to us, the holder may increase the amount of ownership of outstanding stock after exercising the holder’s Warrants up to 9.99% of the number of Ordinary Shares outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of the Warrants

 

· Transferability.

 

Subject to applicable laws, Warrants may be offered for sale, sold, transferred or assigned without our consent.

 

· Antidilution and other adjustments

 

The exercise price of the Warrants and the number of shares of Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting our Ordinary Shares. The holders of Warrants have the right to participate on an as-exercised basis in certain distributions to our holders of our Ordinary Shares.

 

 

 

 

· Fundamental transactions

 

Under the Warrants, we have agreed that upon consummation of a Fundamental Transaction (as defined below), then, upon any subsequent exercise of the Warrants, the holder shall have the right to receive, for each Warrant Share that would have been issuable upon such exercise immediately prior to the occurrence of such Fundamental Transaction, at the option of the holder, the number of shares of common equity of the successor or acquiring corporation or of the Company, if it is the surviving corporation, and any additional consideration receivable as a result of such Fundamental Transaction by a holder of the number of Ordinary Shares for which such Warrant is exercisable immediately prior to such Fundamental Transaction.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we or any successor entity shall, at the option of a holder of a Class A Warrant exercisable at any time concurrently with, or within thirty (30) days after, the consummation of the Fundamental Transaction (or, if later, the date of the public announcement of the applicable Fundamental Transaction), purchase the Class A Warrant from the Class A Warrant holder by paying to such holder an amount of cash equal to the Black Scholes Value (as hereinafter defined) of the remaining unexercised portion of the Class A Warrant on the date of the consummation of such Fundamental Transaction.

 

For the purposes of the foregoing description:

 

“Fundamental Transaction” means a transaction in which (i) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another Person, (ii) the Company or any Subsidiary, directly or indirectly, effects any sale, lease, license, assignment, transfer, conveyance or other disposition of all or substantially all of its assets in one or a series of related transactions, (iii) any, direct or indirect, purchase offer, tender offer or exchange offer (whether by the Company or another Person) is completed pursuant to which holders of Ordinary Shares are permitted to sell, tender or exchange their shares for other securities, cash or property and has been accepted by the holders of greater than 50% of the outstanding Ordinary Shares or greater than 50% of the voting power of the common equity of the Company, (iv) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any reclassification, reorganization or recapitalization of the Ordinary Shares or any compulsory share exchange pursuant to which the Ordinary Shares are effectively converted into or exchanged for other securities, cash or property, or (v) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions consummates a stock or share purchase agreement or other business combination (including, without limitation, a reorganization, recapitalization, spin-off, merger or scheme of arrangement) with another Person or group of Persons whereby such other Person or group acquires greater than 50% of the outstanding Ordinary Shares or greater than 50% of the voting power of the common equity of the Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a Fundamental Transaction shall not include (i) any merger of the Company, parent of the Company or any of their, direct or indirect, consolidated subsidiaries with or into any of the foregoing Persons, (ii) any reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification of the Ordinary Shares in which holders of the Company’s voting power immediately prior to such reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification continue after such reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification to hold publicly traded securities and, directly or indirectly, are, in all material respects, the holders of the voting power of the surviving entity (or entities with the authority or voting power to elect the members of the board of directors (or their equivalent if other than a corporation) of such entity or entities) after such reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification, or (iii) pursuant to a migratory merger effected solely for the purpose of changing the jurisdiction of incorporation of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries.

 

“Black Scholes Value” means the value of the Class A Warrant based on the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model obtained from the “OV” function on Bloomberg determined as of the day of consummation of the applicable Fundamental Transaction for pricing purposes and reflecting (A) a risk-free interest rate corresponding to the U.S. Treasury rate for a period equal to the time between the date of the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction and the Expiration Date, (B) an expected volatility equal to the greater of (1) the 30 day volatility, (2) the 100 day volatility or (3) the 365 day volatility, each of clauses (1)-(3) as obtained from the HVT function on Bloomberg (determined utilizing a 365 day annualization factor) as of the Trading Day immediately following the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction, and (4) 100%, (C) the underlying price per share used in such calculation shall be the greater of (i) the sum of the price per share being offered in cash, if any, plus the value of any non-cash consideration, if any, being offered in such Fundamental Transaction and (ii) the highest VWAP during the period beginning in the Trading Day immediately preceding the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction and ending on the close of business on the date that the Fundamental Transaction is consummated (provided that if the consummation of the applicable Fundamental Transaction occurs prior to the public announcement of the Fundamental Transaction, (ii) shall be equal to the highest VWAP during the period beginning on the Trading Day immediately prior the consummation of the applicable Fundamental Transaction and ending on the close of business on the date that the Fundamental Transaction is announced), (D) a remaining option time equal to the time between the date of the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction and the Termination Date and (E) a zero cost of borrow.

 

· No rights as a shareholder

 

Except as provided in the Warrant, the holder of a Warrant, solely in its capacity as holder of a Warrant, does not have the rights of a holder of Ordinary Shares including any voting rights, prior to the issuance to the holder of the Ordinary Shares it is then entitled to receive upon the due exercise of a Warrant.

 

· Exchange listing

 

We do not plan on applying to list the Warrants on The Nasdaq Capital Market, any other national securities exchange, or any other nationally recognized trading system.

 

The foregoing descriptions of the Purchase Agreement, Placement Agency Agreement and Warrants are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full text of the Purchase Agreement, Placement Agency Agreement, and the form of Warrants respectively, forms of which are attached to this Report of Foreign Private Issuer on Form 6-K as Exhibits 4.1, 4.2, 10.1 and10.2, respectively, and incorporated herein by reference.

 

This Report shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any Ordinary Shares or Warrants, nor shall there be any sale of Ordinary Shares in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

 

This Form 6-K is hereby incorporated by reference into the registration statement on Form F-3 of the Company (File No. 333-286098), as amended, and the registration statement on Form S-8 of the Company (File No. 333-287139), and into the base prospectus and any prospectus supplement outstanding under each of the foregoing registration statements, to the extent not superseded by documents or reports subsequently filed or furnished by the Company under the Securities Act, or the Exchange Act.

 

 

 

 

Exhibit No.	 	Description
 	 	 
4.1	 	Form of Class A Warrant
4.2	 	Form of Class B Warrant
5.1 	 	Opinion of Harneys regarding the validity of the securities being registered
10.1	 	Form of Securities Purchase Agreement
10.2	 	Placement Agency Agreement
23.1	 	Consent of Harneys (included in Exhibit 5.1)
99.1	 	Press Release, dated July 14, 2025

 

2

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

Date: July 15, 2025	SEALSQ CORP
 	 	 
 	By:	/s/ Carlos Moreira
 	 	Name: Carlos Moreira
 	 	Title:   Chief Executive Officer
 	 	 
 	By:	/s/ John O’Hara
 	 	Name: John O’Hara
 	 	Title:   Chief Financial Officer

 

 

FAQ

How much capital is SEALSQ (LAES) raising in the direct offering?

The company expects gross proceeds of approximately $60 million before fees and expenses.

What securities are being issued by SEALSQ in this transaction?

SEALSQ will issue 15 million Ordinary Shares plus 15 million Class A and 15 million Class B warrants, each exercisable for one additional share.

What are the offering and exercise prices of the shares and warrants?

Shares are sold at a combined price of $4.00; both warrant classes carry a $4.60 exercise price.

When is the offering expected to close?

Closing is targeted for 15 July 2025, subject to customary conditions.

What compensation will the placement agent receive?

Maxim Group LLC will earn a 7% fee on gross proceeds plus up to $40,000 in reimbursable expenses.

Will the warrants be listed for trading?

No, SEALSQ does not plan to list the warrants on Nasdaq or any other exchange.