Ascendis shares fall to record low
Last week, Coast2Coast was forced to offload another R10.3m worth of Ascendis shares to meet obligations to lenders
Ascendis Health’s shares fell to a record low on Monday morning following more forced selling by a director.
The stock, which sank 14% last week, was another 12.6% down at R3.05 on Monday morning the worst level since private equity firm Coast2Coast listed the business in 2013.
After listing at above R10, the stock climbed to a high of R28.14 in September 2016. But concerns about debt and low organic growth have battered the share over the past two years, and the sell-off has been compounded by forced selling on the part of Coast2Coast.
Last week, Coast2Coast was forced to offload another R10.3m worth of Ascendis shares to meet obligations to lenders. The shares were pledged as collateral for loans.
Ascendis will no longer have to tell the market about these forced share sales, however, as Coast2Coast no longer has board representation at the beleaguered healthcare company.
Gary Shayne, a nonexecutive director, left the board at the end of March.
Shayne is the majority beneficial owner and CEO of Coast2Coast, which founded Ascendis in 2008 and listed it on the JSE in November 2013. He had been on the Ascendis board since its founding.