The Canadian fund Brookfield has decided to withdraw its interest in a public exclusion offer to acquire Grifols due to disagreements over the price with the board of directors of the Spanish pharmaceutical company, as previously reported by Bloomberg. “After conducting a thorough due diligence and considering the reactions of the Grifols Transaction Committee and the Grifols Board of Directors regarding the potential offer communicated to the market on November 19, 2024, this morning Brookfield informed the Grifols Transaction Committee that under the current circumstances it is not in a position to continue with a potential offer for Grifols,” Brookfield reported to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on Wednesday.
It was the Grifols board itself that rejected the Canadian fund’s offer of €10.5 per Class A share and €7.62 per Class B share, considering it undervalued the group at only €6.45 billion. Therefore, the highest management body of Grifols recommended that the company’s shareholders not accept a potential offer from the Canadian fund at that price. In a Relevant Fact sent to the CNMV by Brookfield, it is reported that, after conducting a thorough due diligence and considering the reactions of the Grifols Transaction Committee and its Board of Directors regarding the potential offer communicated to the market on November 19, 2024, Brookfield informed the Grifols Transaction Committee that under the current circumstances it is not in a position to continue with a potential purchase offer for the company.
On the other hand, regarding this same matter, the newspaper Expansión reported that the Grifols family dismissed other offers to take the blood products giant out of the stock market. The founding family, which holds 30% of the capital and had partnered with Brookfield to explore a public takeover bid (OPA) to delist the company, assured Bloomberg that it will not accept another private acquisition deal, given that the Canadian fund has withdrawn from the operation.
The Grifols family, which controls around 30% of the multinational blood products company, has indicated that it will not support a new alternative offer to the one it was considering with Brookfield to take it public and will choose to continue in the market as it has been. The markets reacted to the news by punishing Grifols, with its class A shares falling more than 10%, leading the losses in the Ibex 35 and pushing its shares below €10 (it opens today at €9.4). For the year as a whole, which is the worst in its history following attacks from the short-selling fund Gotham City Research, shares of the Spanish pharmaceutical company have accumulated a decline of over 33%.
