Gotham City Research released a short report on Grifols SA (NASDAQ: GRFS), a Spanish pharmaceutical company, alleging that Grifols manipulated its accounts to lower its leverage artificially. According to Gotham, this manipulation makes the company's shares not advisable for investment. The accusation targets Grifols for allegedly manipulating debt and EBITDA figures, claiming the actual leverage could be significantly higher, possibly ranging between 10x-13x, in contrast to the reported 6x. Got
Shares in Grifols plunged by almost a third on Tuesday after Hedge fund Gotham City Research alleged the Spanish drug company's debt ratios were much higher than officially reported, wiping billions off its stock market value.
MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) -Shares in Grifols fell by 30% on Tuesday, wiping nearly $3 billion off its market value, after hedge fund Gotham City Research questioned its accounting, prompting the Spanish drugmaker to "categorically" deny any wrongdoing. Gotham questioned Grifols' reported debt and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), and leverage ratio of 6.7 times. It said the leverage ratio is close to 10 to 13 times EBITDA.