Grifols Founding Family and Brookfield team up for potential €5.5B takeover bid

July 08, 2024 05:20 AM PDT | By Invezz
 Grifols Founding Family and Brookfield team up for potential €5.5B takeover bid
Image source: Invezz

The Grifols founding family and Canadian alternative asset manager Brookfield have joined forces to launch a potential takeover bid for Spanish pharmaceutical company Grifols. T

he move, if successful, would result in Grifols being delisted from the stock exchange.

Grifols board considers preliminary offer

On Monday, Grifols announced in a regulatory filing that its board of directors convened over the weekend to evaluate a preliminary takeover offer submitted by Brookfield and the founding family, who currently hold nearly 30% of the company’s shares.

The proposal involves granting access to specific company data to facilitate due diligence, paving the way for a potential acquisition of all outstanding Grifols shares.

Trading halt and speculation

The announcement triggered a suspension of Grifols’ shares from trading on the Spanish benchmark index, the IBEX.

This decision by the Spanish securities regulator, CNMV, came shortly before the market opened. Prior to the suspension, traders anticipated an increase in Grifols’ share price of around 8% to 10%.

Founding family’s next steps

According to a report published in Spanish business newspaper Cinco Dias on Sunday, the founding family seeks access to Grifols’ financial records to formulate a final offer within the coming weeks.

The report additionally states that Lazard is acting as the sole financial advisor for both parties involved in the potential takeover.

Potential deal value and unanswered questions

While Grifols did not disclose the potential value of the transaction, Cinco Dias estimates it could reach €5.5 billion (approximately $5.96 billion).

The company’s statement also acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the potential transaction’s outcome and its specific terms.

Grifols’ shareholder landscape and recent challenges

Grifols’ major shareholders include prominent investment firms Capital Group, BlackRock, Europacific, and Rokos Global, alongside the founding family descendants who transformed the company from a small, family-run laboratory in Barcelona into a global leader in the plasma derivatives market.

Grifols has faced significant challenges since early 2024. Short-seller Gotham City Research released a series of reports accusing the company of inflating earnings and downplaying debt levels. These accusations resulted in a decline of Grifols’ market value by several billion euros.

In response to the short-seller reports, Grifols implemented governance reforms and revised its reported leverage figures upwards, following revisions mandated by the CNMV. The company appointed a new chief financial officer, Rahul Srinivasan, as part of a recent management reshuffle.

Last week, Scranton Enterprises, an entity linked to the Grifols family, refinanced €377 million of debt within one of its units through an agreement with a private investor.

The potential takeover bid by the Grifols family and Brookfield casts a veil of uncertainty over the future of the Spanish drugmaker.

While the details and outcome of the bid remain unclear, it has undoubtedly triggered significant developments for Grifols, its investors, and the broader pharmaceutical industry.

The post Grifols Founding Family and Brookfield team up for potential €5.5B takeover bid appeared first on Invezz


Disclaimer

The content, including but not limited to any articles, news, quotes, information, data, text, reports, ratings, opinions, images, photos, graphics, graphs, charts, animations, and video (Content) is a service of Kalkine Media LLC., having Delaware File No. 4697309 (“Kalkine Media, we or us”) and is available for personal and non-commercial use only. The principal purpose of the Content is to educate and inform. The Content does not contain or imply any recommendation or opinion intended to influence your financial decisions and must not be relied upon by you as such. Some of the Content on this website may be sponsored/non-sponsored, as applicable, but is NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold the stocks of the company(s) or engage in any investment activity under discussion. Kalkine Media is neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice through this platform. Users should make their own enquiries about any investments and Kalkine Media strongly suggests the users to seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice), as necessary. Kalkine Media hereby disclaims any and all the liabilities to any user for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising from any use of the Content on this website, which is provided without warranties. The views expressed in the Content by the guests, if any, are their own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kalkine Media.
The content published on Kalkine Media also includes feeds sourced from third-party providers. Kalkine does not assert any ownership rights over the content provided by these third-party sources. The inclusion of such feeds on the Website is for informational purposes only. Kalkine does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content obtained from third-party feeds. Furthermore, Kalkine Media shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the content obtained from third-party feeds, nor for any damages or losses arising from the use of such content. Some of the images/music that may be used on this website are copyrighted to their respective owner(s). Kalkine Media does not claim ownership of any of the pictures/music displayed/used on this website unless stated otherwise. The images/music that may be used on this website are taken from various sources on the internet, including paid subscriptions or are believed to be in public domain. We have used reasonable efforts to accredit the source (public domain/CC0 status) to where it was found and indicated it, as necessary.
This disclaimer is subject to change without notice. Users are advised to review this disclaimer periodically for any updates or modifications.


Sponsored Articles


Investing Ideas

Previous Next