Rumors have been flying that Stada’s talked with potential buyer CVC Capital Partners--and the way one activist investor sees it, if the drugmaker hasn’t, it should.
U.S.-based rebel shareholder Guy Wyser-Pratte, who’s picked up a stake in the under-pressure German pharma, is advocating a sale of the company, Reuters reports.
CVC is “interested, my contacts in Germany say that. They can easily pay in the mid-sixties and still make money,” Wyser-Pratte told the news service.
At that price, a deal could be worth more than €4 billion ($4.5 billion). Stada shares were trading at €48.25 on Tuesday at press time, with a market cap of €3 billion.
Buzz around a potential Stada-CVC tie-up picked up in May, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the pair had been holding informal takeover discussions. Stada, for its part, has denied holding any such talks.
Meanwhile, fellow activist Active Ownership Capital--which has been sparring with Stada for months now--has been taking a different tack. It’s working to overturn the drugmaker’s board, which it hopes to do at Stada’s annual meeting late next month. And as for the drugmaker itself, it’s hoping to placate investors with a competing slate of board nominees of its own.
The way Wyser-Pratte sees it, though, the time to strike is now. “Why wait 5 years instead of selling in 5 months?” he said.
- get more from Reuters
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