Zealand Pharma grants sign-on warrants and performance stock units under the employee warrant program and management long-term incentive program

Company announcement – No. 55/ 2022

Zealand Pharma grants sign-on warrants and performance stock units under the employee warrant program and management long-term incentive program

Copenhagen, Denmark and Boston, MA, U.S. December 2, 2022 – Zealand Pharma A/S (“Zealand”) (NASDAQ: ZEAL) (CVR-no. 20 04 50 78), a Copenhagen-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based medicines, announces granting of sign-on warrants and performance stock units (“PSUs”) to the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) in accordance with the long-term incentive program (the “LTIP”) for Zealand’s Corporate Management and employees, in accordance with Zealand's Remuneration policy and overall guidelines for incentive pay, as adopted at the annual general meeting held on April 6, 2022.

Zealand has awarded 20,590 PSUs and 14,038 warrants to Zealand´s CFO.

The warrants are granted under the warrant program covered by the authority pursuant to Section 8.10 of Zealand's Articles of Association, adopted on Zealand's general meeting on April 6, 2022. The total cost of the incentive grants is DKK 5.1 million.

Zealand implemented the LTIP to align with select European and U.S. biotech peers, and is intended to drive long-term performance, align management’s interests with those of Zealand’s shareholders, and support the attraction, retention and motivation of first-rate executive talents.

PSUs

With respect to the PSUs, the Board of Directors is authorized to grant members of the Corporate Management sign-on PSUs free of charge subject to fulfillment of certain pre-defined performance targets. Consequently,

• 50% of the PSUs vest based upon certain pre-defined operational goals that are required for Zealand to meet its strategic plans (such as clinical development advancement), and
• 50% of the PSUs vest based upon certain pre-defined market-based goals that encourage share performance against comparable companies (such as total shareholder return performance against Nasdaq Biotechnology Index).

Depending on the level of fulfillment of the goals the PSUs may vest between 0% and 150%.

The grant of sign-on PSUs to the CFO under this program will have an estimated fair market value of DKK 4,2 million, based on each PSU having a fair value of DKK 203 per share.

The number of granted sign-on PSUs may be adjusted by the Board of Directors due to e.g., changes in Zealand's share capital structure or other significant events, subject to obtaining a calculation made by Zealand's auditor or an independent third party.