Ascendis share jumps after getting offer on Remedica unit
News of the sale lifted the health company’s share price which plummeted in 2018 amid concerns about its indebtedness
Shares in Ascendis Health were up 11.6% at R6.15 early on Monday afternoon, the best level in two months, after the company said it had received an unsolicited offer for its biggest offshore business. Ascendis said it had received an offer for Cyprus-based pharmaceutical maker Remedica, which accounted for 17% of group revenues and 32% of earnings from continuing operations in the year to June 2018.
The company said it is in negotiations and that shareholders should “exercise caution” when dealing in its shares. The group’s share price plummeted through 2018 on concerns that Ascendis, which grew its portfolio through a series of acquisitions, is over indebted and struggling to grow organically. The decline was compounded when Ascendis’s main investor, private-equity firm Coast2Coast, was forced to offload large chunks of stock to meet obligations to lenders. The sales have been involuntary as Coast2Coast has failed to meet margin calls from banks, which were triggered by the f...
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