Grifols fights back against Gotham City

GRIFOLS, the Barcelona-headquartered pharmaceuticals company, intends to sue Gotham City Research.

After a negative Gotham City report wiped €2.2 billion from the company’s market value on January 9, Grifols said it would seek compensation through the courts for damage to its “financial and reputational” image.

The notorious short-seller fund, remembered in Spain for provoking the 2014 collapse of telecom firm Gowex, shed doubts on Grifols’ reported debt and earnings and questioned its purported assets-to-debts ratio of 6 to 7.

This was closer to 10 to 13, maintained Gotham City, while querying financial links with Scranton Enterprise, the Grifols family’s investment vehicle.

Grifols, which manufactures plasma-derived medicines, denied all the Gotham City allegations and claims, which the company insisted were “based on false information.”

The family-founded company also declared its “full support” for chief executive and executive chairman Thomas Glanzman.

Wealth management group Mirabaud Research, quoted by Reuters, described the Gotham City report as “partial, shady and leading to conclusions whose only purpose is backing its short position.”  At the same time Mirabaud said it highlighted some accounting practices and ties with related parties which Grifols “should abandon for credibility’s sake.”