Grifols sees China stake sale going ahead despite Gotham City report

By Joan Faus and Nell Mackenzie

BARCELONA/LONDON (Reuters) -Grifols told investors on Thursday it did not foresee any problem closing its $1.8 billion sale of a stake in Shanghai RAAS, despite a slump in its shares after a Gotham City Research report this week querying the Spanish drugmaker's accounting.

Shares in Grifols fell by as much as 13% in afternoon trading after the company held a conference call to reassure its investors. The company's stock has lost more than 28% of its value since the Gotham City report came out on Tuesday.

Grifols vice-chair Raimon Grifols told investors that the sale of 20% of Shanghai RAAS Blood Products should close as planned in the first half of 2024, although there would be no penalty if it was called off. Proceeds from the Chinese sale will be used to repay some Grifols debt in 2025.

CEO Thomas Glanzmann said there was room to improve communications and governance at Grifols, but said short-seller fund Gotham City had suggested wrongdoing using information that had already been signed off by auditors and regulators.

"We categorically deny and reject all of these allegations," Glanzmann said, adding that Gotham City was acting "out of pure self-interest and financial gain".

Chief Financial Officer Alfredo Arroyo Guerra told the same call that Grifols was working to simplify its structure, and that future transactions "will be plain vanilla".

Barcelona-based Grifols, which makes medicines with human blood plasma, said on Wednesday it would launch legal action against Gotham City, whose report wiped $2.5 billion off its market value. It would not say when or where it would do so.

Officials at Grifols said they would provide information requested by the CNMV Spanish stock market supervisor "as soon as possible" and within a 10-day deadline.

In its report, Gotham City questioned Grifols' reported debt and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), and leverage ratio of 6.7 times. It said the leverage ratio was close to 10 to 13 times EBITDA.

It also questioned the financial links between Grifols and Scranton Enterprises, an investment vehicle linked to the founding Grifols family.

Glanzmann said the family holds less than 20% of Scranton and that interactions between Grifols and Scranton have been made "at arm's length".

In a post on social media platform X, Gotham City said it has "many questions plus observations regarding Grifols".

It said one of its allegations had still not been addressed - that both Grifols and Scranton fully consolidate in their accounts blood donation firm Haema AG and plasma donation company BPC Plasma. Grifols sold both to Scranton in 2018.

Grifols' Arroyo Guerra told investors that Grifols is required to consolidate both entities because it holds a call option, adding: "Be 100% sure that this company has always followed accounting rules".

The board of the Spanish Association of Minority Shareholders (AEMEC) said it expects to decide on Friday what if any legal action to take, including a potential complaint against Grifols or Gotham City.

AEMEC was still analysing the facts reported by Gotham City to determine whether Grifols had done anything wrong, its spokesperson told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Jesus Aguado, writing by Andrei Khalip, editing by Alexander Smith)