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, 3 May 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 two notifications of shareholdings from UBS Group AG on 30 April 2018.

In a first notification, UBS Group AG (taking into account the holdings of its subsidiary undertakings) has notified Ablynx that it has upward crossed the 5% threshold of voting rights held directly by controlled undertakings and downward crossed the 3% threshold of voting rights held through financial instruments since 24 April 2018.
In a second notification, UBS Group AG has notified Ablynx that it has downward crossed the 3% threshold of total voting rights of Ablynx since 26 April 2018.

The latest notification contains 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
  • downward crossing the lowest threshold
• Notification by: a parent undertaking or a controlling person
• Persons subject to the notification requirement: USB Group AG
• Transaction date: 26 April 2018
• Threshold that is crossed: no details required when crossing the lowest threshold
• Denominator: 75,253,667 (status on 26 April 2018)
• Chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding is effectively being held: Please see the full chain of control in the Transparency Notification.

More information is available in the transparency notification. A full version of the transparency notifications is 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; Novo Nordisk; Sanofi and Taisho Pharmaceuticals. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com.

On 29 January 2018, Sanofi made an offer to acquire all of Ablynx's outstanding ordinary shares (including shares represented by American Depository Shares (ADSs), warrants and convertible bonds) at a price of €45 per share, which represents an aggregate equity value of approximately €3.9 billion. The proposed transaction was unanimously approved by both the Sanofi and Ablynx Board of Directors. The offer is comprised of two separate but concurrent tender offers: (i) a tender offer under the laws of Belgium for all of the outstanding shares, warrants and convertible bonds of Ablynx (the "Belgian Offer") and (ii) a tender offer under the laws of the U.S. for all of the outstanding shares held by U.S. holders and ADSs held by holders, wherever located (the "U.S. Offer"). The initial acceptance period of the tender offers commenced on 4 April 2018 and will expire at 5:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 p.m. CET on 4 May 2018, subject to extension.

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]

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Dan Katcher or Joseph Sala
t:  +1 212-355-4449

Attachment

• pdf version of the press release.pdf