Added background, Grifols also sues Cyrus de Weck
Madrid, January 26 (Reuters) –Spanish pharmaceutical company Grifols GRLS.MC It announced Friday that it had filed a lawsuit. US courtsLawsuit seeking damages against Daniel Yu, founder of short-selling fund Gotham City Research, and his company over reports suggesting accounting fraud. At Grifols.
The lawsuit is Filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Portsea founder Cyrus de Weck was also named as a defendant.General Industrial Partners, a joint venture between Yu and de Weck, and its affiliates;
Neither Mr. Gotham nor Mr. de Weck responded to requests for comment.
“Through this lawsuit, we seek injunctive and monetary relief and intend to hold defendants fully accountable for the torts alleged in the complaint,” Grifols said in a statement.
Since the Gotham report was published on January 9, Grifols shares have fallen by more than 30%, wiping out more than €2.8 billion in value from the company.
Mr Grifols denies any wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, Grifols would start legal action They called for compensation from Gotham at least equal to the stock price loss.
On Tuesday, Spanish regulator CNMV said it could take weeks to reach a conclusion on Gotham’s allegations against Grifols. He also said he was investigating whether Gotham complied with European regulations. market abuse “particularly those dealing with the dissemination of misleading information.”
Grifols board member Thomas Daga told Reuters that any decline in the company’s stock would be in Gotham’s interest because Gotham and its partners at one point had a short position of more than 0.5%. This means the fund can make a profit even if stock prices decline.
Aggressive short sellers like Gotham, who bet on stock prices to fall, can wipe huge sums of money from their targets’ market value.
Reporting by Andrei Kalip and Jessica Jones. Additional reporting by Jesus Aguado and Nell McKenzie.Editing: Leslie Adler