Grifols shares once again suffered a sharp fall on the stock market this Wednesday, with a correction that exceeded 15% in the first part of the day. At mid-session the decline was 9.5%.
In this way they lose the level of 9 euros, about 40% below the price it had before the bearish fund Gotham City Research published the report in which it accuses it of falsifying its accounts and its debt level. valuing their titles at zero.
Today’s behavior on the floor extends the market’s lack of conviction with the explanations he gave yesterday in a meeting with investors, where he insisted that Gotham is lying and that his accusations “are false and speculative.”
One of the points that Gotham focused on is the relationship between the Scranton holding company, which members of the Grifols family use to channel their investment, and the listed company. Gotham is targeting the consolidation of the Biotest and Haema firms in the accounts of both Grifols and Scranton. The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has given the company a period of 10 days to report more information about the fund’s accusations and the connection with Scranton.
The president of Grifols, Thomas Glanzmann, “categorically” denied the fund’s accusations in the appearance with investors and rejected that Scranton was a family office to hide the company’s debt. Glanzmann explained that there were “specific collaborations” between the two, such as the rental of the headquarters in Sant Cugat del Vallès or the operation of Biotest and Haema in 2018.
Grifols’ stock has had a clearly negative balance for a week. On Monday, before the release of Gotham’s report, it had fallen 2.26%. On Tuesday, with the accusations of the bearish fund already on the table, it lost 26%. On Wednesday it recovered some ground, with a rebound of 12%, but on Thursday it sank again by 16% after the explanations did not convince investors.
The Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Body, insisted this Friday in an interview on RNE on having “prudence” and “caution” when dealing with the issue, trusting that the CNMV “will act and make the appropriate decision.”
