Ascendis Health’s new CEO, Danish national Thomas Thomsen, says his immediate priorities include the appointment of a South African MD and the realisation of "top-down" synergies between group companies. Thomsen took over from founding CEO Karsten Wellner last week after joining Ascendis as chief operating officer in August 2017. As part of a transition process, Wellner will remain on the board until June. "Obviously the transition [between] myself and Karsten over the next few months is critical but I’m sure it will go smoothly," Thomsen said. London-based Thomsen said finding the right person to replace outgoing SA MD Cliff Sampson "is a top priority". Ascendis would also focus more on "top-down", rather than "bottom-up" synergies, as part of its efforts to boost organic growth. For instance, it planned to identify distribution synergies across the group. "We also have great sports nutrition capabilities in our Scitec manufacturing [business] in Hungary, and I can see that spillin...
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