Ascendis on the rise?
Debt free and profitable, the health-care company is rebuilding with a leaner, South Africa-focused strategy
10 April 2025 - 05:00
After listing on the JSE in 2013, Ascendis Health set off on an ambitious but ultimately ill-fated acquisition spree, snapping up a patchwork of health-care and wellness companies in South Africa and abroad. The goal was to build a diversified, vertically integrated health and wellness group.
The problem was that many of the businesses lacked synergies, and the entire strategy was propped up by excessive debt. It didn’t help that its second-largest offshore acquisition, Scitec Nutrition in Hungary, failed to deliver the returns hoped for...
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