By Pierre Bertrand Spain's stock-market regulator is looking at the allegations made by short-seller Gotham City Research against Grifols, which were denied.
The head of the Spanish CNMV
stock market supervisor Rodrigo Buenaventura said it made no
sense to question the integrity of the audited accounts of
drugmaker Grifols or to ignore a report on Tuesday.
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.
Supervisors like the SEC and the ESMA are warning about misleading information regarding companies’ tech capabilities, and working to ensure artificial intelligence does not create a systemic risk for investors down the line