Radical change in pharmaceutical leadership griffles. The Catalan company removed Raimon Grifols and Víctor Grifols Deu from their executive duties, who will continue to serve on the board of directors. Thomas Glanzmann will continue as executive chairman and Nacho Abia will be the new CEO. Glanzmann was combining both positions until now.
Abia is a manager 25 years of experience from Olympus CorporationA Japanese company specialized in medical technology, headquartered in Tokyo, included in the Nikkei index. The executive will be appointed to the board of directors on February 26 and will assume his new responsibility as CEO on April 1.
griffles argues that these changes “are part of a strategy to improve Grifols’ corporate governance”, long planned and carefully designedDecision initiated by Raimon Grifols and Víctor Grifols Deu together with the board of directors in 2022 to gradually separate ownership from the management of the company. . “. Raimon Grifols and Víctor Grifols Deu took over the positions they currently leave in May last year.
More debt and account manipulation
But the truth is that these changes occurred after the American bearish fund Gotham City Research published a devastating report on January 9 in which it accused the company of manipulating its accounts and hiding part of its debt, accusations denied by the group. To CNMV.
The Gotham City Investigative fund is the same investment firm that uncovered the financial scandal that collapsed Gowex a decade ago and led to businessman Jenaro García facing justice for fraud. Gotham noted that Catalan company Grifols has debt worth 10 to 13 times its EBITDA, compared to the six times the company admitted.
Market sources indicate that this renovation of the dome is an attempt to avoid a possible conflict of interest with Grifols’ holding company, Scranton. Gotham accused the family of using “tunnel operations” between the Grifols and Scranton. So, “The transfer of assets and profits outside companies for the benefit of those who control them”As Gotham describes it.
In this case, it points out that the shareholders or management of the first company (in this case Grifols) are often the absolute owners of the second company (Scranton) and therefore benefit from transactions they would otherwise take. “disaster.” It is worth remembering that although Grifols sold the Biotest and Haema companies to Scranton, it continued to consolidate both in its accounts, asserting that it had a purchase option.
Grifols announced on January 26 a request vs. Gotham City in the USA demands financial compensation. The pharmaceutical company alleges that the bearish fund took advantage of the Catalan group’s short position in the company by disseminating a report containing lies about accounting, communications and finance.
Minority shareholders of Grifols are considering demanding compensation from the company’s executives in Spain due to the suspicion that family members and executives affiliated with the company have “harmed” them. The idea of these minorities is to use the laws of capital companies to act with social responsibility. As ‘Entities’ published, American law firms (Grifols is listed in the United States through ADRs) will also sue the Catalan pharmaceutical company for passing “false information” to the market.
Grifols outperforms 32.8% in 2024
Shares of a company specialized in blood products A 32.8% year-on-year decline was achieved in Ibex 35 It still hasn’t recovered from the impact of the collapse in the first sessions of January. In this Monday’s session, shares of the pharmaceutical company rose by 1.22%.
These declines came despite the company’s attempt to clarify Gotham’s accusations through three communications to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and a conference with investors attended by chairman Thomas Glanzmann.