PUBLICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 14 OF THE BELGIAN LAW OF 2 MAY 2007 REGARDING THE PUBLICATION OF MAJOR SHAREHOLDINGS (THE "TRANSPARENCY LAW")

REGULATED INFORMATION

GHENT, Belgium, 18 January 2018 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels and Nasdaq: ABLX] today announced, in accordance with Article 14 of the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 regarding the publication of major shareholdings in issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market (the "Transparency Law"), that it received a notification of shareholdings from Bank of America Corporation on 15 and 16 January 2018.

Bank of America Corporation (taking into account the holdings of its subsidiary undertakings) notified Ablynx that it has crossed the 5% threshold and now holds 3,851,779 voting securities of Ablynx, representing 5.15% of the 74,720,644 outstanding voting rights of Ablynx (versus 4.32% notified previously on 2 November 2017).

The notifications contain the following information:

• Reason for the notification:
  • acquisition or disposal of voting securities or voting rights
  • acquisition or disposal of financial instruments that are treated as voting securities
• Notification by: a parent undertaking or a controlling person
• Persons subject to the notification requirement: Bank of America Corporation, Wilmington, DE, USA
• Date on which threshold is crossed: 9 and 10 January 2018
• Threshold that is crossed: 5% of total voting rights and 5% of voting rights held through financial instruments
• Denominator: 74,720,644
• Details of the notification:

* Type of financial instrument: "Right of Use"
             

• Chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding is effectively being held: Bank of America, National Association, Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corporation and Merrill Lynch Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated are controlled by Bank of America Corporation. Bank of America Corporation is not a controlled entity.
• Additional information: The right of use represent a right of rehypothecation (not yet exercised) that Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corporation has over stock held on behalf of Prime Brokerage clients.

             
More information is provided in the transparency notifications. Full versions of the transparency notifications are available on Ablynx website, under the section Investors.

The Articles of the Association of Ablynx NV provide for shareholders notification threshold of 3%, 5% or a multiple of 5% of the total number of existing voting rights.

About Ablynx

Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of Nanobodies, proprietary therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, which combine the advantages of conventional antibody drugs with some of the features of small-molecule drugs. Ablynx is dedicated to creating new medicines which will make a real difference to society. Today, the Company has more than 45 proprietary and partnered programmes in development in various therapeutic areas including inflammation, haematology, immuno-oncology, oncology and respiratory disease. The Company has collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie; Boehringer Ingelheim; Eddingpharm; Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA; Merck KGaA; Novartis; Novo Nordisk; Sanofi and Taisho Pharmaceuticals. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com.

For more information, please contact
Ablynx:
Dr Edwin Moses
CEO
t:   +32 (0)9 262 00 07
m: +32 (0)473 39 50 68
e:  [email protected]

Lies Vanneste
Director Investor Relations
t:   +32 (0)9 262 01 37
m: +32 (0)498 05 35 79
e:  [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter @AblynxABLX

Ablynx media relations:
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Philippa Gardner, Sukaina Virji
t:  +44 (0)20 3709 5700
e:  [email protected]

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0a4c0491-b7b8-4edc-984a-2d1205c24e9c