BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Jean-Jacques Bienaimé, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of BioMarin. Please go ahead.

Thank you. On behalf of the entire Board, our officers and employees, I want to welcome all of you to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. Our Board annually considers the appropriate format of our annual meeting. And this year, we decided to hold a virtual annual meeting due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. So I'm Jean-Jacques Bienaimé, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of BioMarin, and I will be presiding at this meeting. Laura Woodhead, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of the company, will act as Secretary of this meeting. Within the virtual meeting platform, you will find a copy of the rules of conduct and procedures for the annual meeting. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants abide by these rules. Before proceeding with the meeting formalities, please note that I am reading from a script. And for your information, the script helps ensure observance of legal formalities and a smooth flow of business at the meeting. So I now call the meeting to order, and recognize Ms. Woodhead.

Mr. Bienaimé, I have a copy of the list of stockholders of record as of March 30, 2020, the record date for this meeting, and a certificate attesting that such list has been made available for examination at BioMarin's public website at investors.biomarin.com for the 10 days immediately preceding this meeting. I also have a copy of the notice of meeting and an affidavit attesting that such notice was mailed on or about April 14, 2020, to all stockholders of record as of March 30, 2020.

Thank you. The original affidavit together with the documents attached and the original certificate should be annexed to the minutes of this meeting. [ Kelsey Fletcher, ] representing Broadridge Financial Solutions, will act as the Inspector of Election of this meeting and any adjournment thereof. And she has subscribed an oath to execute faithfully her duties as voting inspector. Voting on the matters to be considered will be by ballot. So for this purpose, stockholders who are on this conference call who wish to change their vote from their previously submitted proxies or wish to vote during the annual meeting should vote in accordance with instructions provided on Page 85 of BioMarin's proxy statement under the header, How Do I Vote. Ms. Fletcher, will you please report on the number of shares of the company's stock that are represented at the meeting?

Mr. Bienaimé, the virtual meeting attendance has been canvassed. And I wish to report that there are present on this conference call or represented by proxy 164,140,470 shares of this company's common stock, representing approximately 90.8% of the shares that are issued, outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting. Such shares constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at this meeting.

Thank you. So as the holders of a majority of the shares entitled to vote at this meeting are present, either on this conference call or by proxy, I declare this meeting to be duly convened for purposes of transacting such business as may properly come before it. The polls are now open for voting. Stockholders who have submitted proxies or who have previously voted via the Internet or by phone and who do not wish to change their votes, do not need to take further action. Their votes will be counted automatically. The next order of business is a description of the matters to be voted on at today's meeting. There are 3 proposals to be considered by the stockholders at this meeting. The matters to be voted on this meeting are listed in the proxy statement related to this meeting. We will vote after all items have been presented. And when the report of the Inspector of Election is complete, we will announce the results. [Operator Instructions] Only stockholders will be permitted to submit questions. We will do our best to respond to the questions received in the time permitted. The first proposal before the stockholders of the corporation is the election of 10 directors to serve on the company's Board. And pursuant to the company's bylaws, the Board has nominated me, Jean-Jacques Bienaimé, Elizabeth Anderson, Willard Dere, Michael Grey, Elaine Heron, Robert Hombach, Bryan Lawlis, Richard Meier; David Pyott and Dennis Slamon, each to serve as a Director of the company until the next annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor shall be elected and shall qualify. There being no other nominations, the nominations are hereby closed. The second proposal before the stockholders is the ratification of the selection by the Board of Directors of KPMG LLP as BioMarin's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2020. The third proposal before the stockholder is an advisory vote on the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement relating to this meeting. The stockholders have been asked to vote on an advisory basis on the following resolution, resolved that the company's stockholders hereby approve on an advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the SEC, including the compensation discussion and analysis, compensation tables and our active discussion and any related materials. I will now take a moment to check if any questions regarding today's proposals have been submitted online. After the formal part of the meeting, there will also be an opportunity for Q&A on general matters other than the 3 proposal under consideration at this meeting. So I just received information that there are no questions regarding today's proposals, and none of them were submitted online. So we will now continue with the meeting. At this point, I declare the polls now closed. And I would like to call Ms. Fletcher to report on her tabulation of the vote.

Mr. Bienaimé, the results of the voting on the matters considered at this meeting are as follows: proposal #1, election of directors: Jean-Jacques Bienaimé, Elizabeth Anderson, Willard Dere, Michael Grey, Elaine Heron, Robert Hombach, Bryan Lawlis, Richard Meier, David Pyott, Dennis Slamon are the 10 individuals receiving the greatest number of votes for the position of Director. Proposal #2, ratification of KPMG LLP. A majority of the shares of common stock cast that were entitled to vote and represented on this proxy call or by proxy at this meeting were voted for the ratification of the selection of KPMG LLP by the Board of Directors as BioMarin's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 30, 2020. Proposal #3, advisory vote on executive compensation. A majority of the shares of common stock cast that were entitled to vote and represented on this conference call or by proxy at this meeting or voted for the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement.

So based on the reported results, I declare that all of the director nominees have been elected. And proposal #2 and #3 have been approved. A full tally of the final voting results will be published in a current report on Form 8-K which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, within 4 business days of this meeting. The meeting is now adjourned. If you would like more information about BioMarin's recent developments, I invite you to review our investor corporate presentations available on our public website, investors.biomarin.com under the Events and Presentation tab. I will now take a moment to check if any questions have been submitted online in accordance with the rules of conducts and procedures, and I will answer appropriate questions within the time permitted. Also Chris Gentle of KPMG LLP, BioMarin's independent auditor, is also on the conference call and available to respond to any appropriate questions submitted online. So I was just informed that there were no questions submitted online. So we will now end the meeting. Thank you for your support of BioMarin and for attending the annual meeting. Goodbye.

The conference has now concluded. We thank you all for attending this morning's presentation, and you may now disconnect your lines.