Grifols justifies the stock market listing in the US with the argument that the market "recognizes its value"

BarcelonaGrifols makes a point of the proposed stock market listing of its biopharmaceutical business in the United States. The company's non-executive chairwoman, Anne-Catherine Berner, has championed the initiative presented by the board of directors in March as a move to "highlight the extraordinary value" of its North American operations. In her speech at the annual shareholders' meeting, held this Wednesday at the multinational's headquarters in Sant Cugat, Berner denied that the future market launch of Biopharma would mean "separating value from Grifols." "It consists of allowing the market to recognize this value more clearly," she stated.

Grifols, it should be remembered, opened the door to launching an initial public offering for a minority stake in its business in the United States with two objectives: to explore the market's appetite for what is still the company's crown jewel and to reduce debt, which closed 2025 at around 7,700 million euros. The company has not detailed what percentage of the segment would go to Wall Street. However, according to Bloomberg News, the offering could be around 20% of the North American business, and could raise up to 5,000 million dollars.

Bloomberg News, however, the offering could be around 20% of the North American business, and could raise up to 5,000 million dollars.

For Berner, the Biopharma operation in the United States is an "exceptional asset." "It operates in the world's leading plasma market and is fully integrated," said the executive. With the stock market listing, Grifols would become the country's first "fully self-sufficient" company in plasma-derived medicines – meaning it could operate exclusively with the local plasma collected at its extraction infrastructure. In 2025, it should be recalled, the entire biopharmaceutical vertical generated revenues of 6,485 million dollars, more than 86% of the group's total turnover, which rose to over 7,500 million in the period.

An undervalued stock

In this way, Berner points to the US operation as a lever to bring out a value "unrecognized" by the market in the current quotation. At the opening of Wednesday's session, Grifols' stock was trading around 8.9 euros, well below the values prior to the crisis caused by the speculative report by Gotham City Research in January 2024. According to Berner, this price "does not reflect the quality of the assets, the strength of the competitive position, nor the long-term growth potential" of the company.

In this regard, beyond the IPO in the United States, Berner has guaranteed that they will explore avenues for investors to value Grifols "on the basis of its fundamentals, results, competitive advantages, and long-term prospects." According to the non-executive chairwoman, the Catalan pharmaceutical company has a series of "competitive advantages" over other companies in its sector.

Among other issues, she has highlighted the plasma self-sufficiency projects, such as the one currently underway in Egypt, Grifols Egypt for Plasma Derivatives (GEPD). In Berner's view, projects like this underpin an "ambitious and extraordinarily attractive strategy," which should return the shares to pre-Gotham short-attack levels.

Beyond market management, Berner has defended the "independence" of the board of directors, as well as her own as non-executive chairwoman. The chairwoman referred to the "issues that arise" regarding the autonomy of the company's highest management body, in reference to market criticism of the concentration of decision-making power within the founding family. The executive has defended the "diversity of perspectives" at the table to the shareholders. The directors, overall, "owe themselves to all shareholders".

The board approves all points

Besides Berner's intervention, the board has had the participation of the CEO, Nacho Abia; the Chief Financial Officer, Rahul Srinivasan; and the President of Biopharma, Roland Wandeler. After the statements of all the executives, the board has approved practically all the points on the agenda with virtually no opposition.

Among the most relevant, shareholders have given the board of directors permission to amortize own shares to reduce a maximum of 10% of the company's share capital. They have also opened the door to undertaking, if necessary, a capital increase of up to 50%, and have renewed the permission to explore listing on the Nasdaq, the benchmark index for tech companies on Wall Street. Only one item on the agenda has been dropped, referring to the calling of shareholder meetings with less than 15 days' notice, which did not go ahead because there was no quorum to vote on it.