Grifols shares surge on report Grifols family, Brookfield eyeing €5.5bn bid

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Grifols surged on Monday after a newspaper report stated descendants of the founding family and Canadian fund Brookfield were in talks to launch a takeover bid for the Spanish drugmaker that could be worth around €5.5bn (£4.64bn).

According to the report, the Grifols board held an extraordinary meeting over the weekend to study a preliminary offer presented by the founding family, which currently controls around a third of the company's shares. The stock was up almost 14% in Madrid.

The family's aim is to gain access to the company's books in order to make a final offer in the coming weeks, business newspaper Cinco Dias reported on Sunday, citing unnamed people familiar with the plans.

Short-seller fund Gotham City Research has released several reports accusing the company of overstating earnings and understating debt, sending the shares into freefall.

Following Gotham City's reports, Grifols announced governance changes and revised its reported leverage higher after market supervisor CNMV required that it change its calculations.

Last week, Grifols appointed Rahul Srinivasan as chief financial officer in a management reshuffle and Scranton Enterprises, an entity tied to the Grifols family, reached an agreement with a private investor to refinance €377m of debt in one of its units.

The company's other main shareholders include the funds Capital, Blackrock, Europacific and Rokos Global.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com