Oryzon shares continue to soar after announcing HQ move to Madrid

Spanish biopharma OryzonOryzon is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company

Shares in biotech company Oryzon Genomics continued their advance today, after the company said on Tuesday that it plans to move its headquarters from Barcelona to Madrid.

The announcement came just two days after the referendum in Catalonia, but the company did not refer to this event in its statement to Spain’s Stock Market Regulator.

It said the move is “to optimise its operational effectiveness and the relationship with investors.”

Yesterday, Oryzon shares closed up 12.85% at 2,02 euros, while the blue-chip Ibex 35 index dropped 2.85% and the Madrid Stock Market General Index lost 3.03%.

At 11:45 on Thursday, Orzyzon shares were up 7.48% at 2,171 euros.

Founded in Barcelona in 2000, Oryzon is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging epigenetics to develop therapies in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases.

It made its debut on the Madrid Stock Exchange in December 2015, priced at 3,39 euros per share. But the company’s stock market performance has been affected in recent months precisely by the uncertainty surrounding the future of Catalonia.

Since the beginning of 2017, Oryzon’s stock price had accumulated losses of over 56%, until Tuesday’s turnaround.

And another Catalonia-based firm, Eurona, said on Thursday it will move its HQ to Madrid. The telecommunications company, which trades on the MAB, saw its share price rise  over 8% by mid-morning.

Last year, Eurona bought four companies in Madrid and has been considering the possibility of moving its HQ to the Spanish capital.

Other big Catalan companies have already indicated they could transfer their HQ to Madrid, or to another autonomous region, if the situation in Catalonia is not resolved. Many would be seriously and severely affected by the region’s eventual independence.

The two major Catalan Banks, Banco Sabadell and CaixaBank, are a case in point. Sabadell chairman Josep Oliu has already made it clear that if Catalonia declared independence, the bank would immediately transfer its HQ. CaixaBank has also acknowledged this possibility.

The President of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, told the BBC news on Wednesday that Catalonia would declare independence in the next few days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.