Aspen wants trades audited
Drug maker hopes to meet FSB over share price slide
Africa’s biggest generic drug manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare, hoped to meet the Financial Services Board (FSB) later this week to discuss its call for an investigation into unusual trading activity in its shares last Tuesday, according to CEO Stephen Saad. Aspen’s share price slumped 10% on January 9, before recovering, after rumours that it was the new target of Viceroy Research, which in December published a highly critical report on furniture retailer Steinhoff International suggesting that it had used off-balance-sheet vehicles to hide liabilities and inflate earnings. Viceroy said on Twitter it would release another report on a South African company in the new year, prompting speculation that it had Aspen in its sights. The property sector also fell victim to the Viceroy rumour mill last week, with shares falling sharply in several property companies. “We want the FSB to investigate who scored from these wild gyrations in [Aspen’s] share price and if it is illegal,” Saad said i...
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