MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish stock market supervisor said on Tuesday it is analysing the response from drugmaker Grifols to the allegations in a report from short-seller Gotham City which questioned its financial accounts.
Gotham City said Grifols fiddled its reported debt and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, so that its leverage ratio is actually higher than the official 6.7 times.
Grifols denied the allegation that it had manipulated its debt and earnings through transactions with a related entity, and said stood by its published leverage ratio.
CNMV, as the supervisor is called, said in a statement its analysis may require additional or complementary information given the complexity of the issues involved.
Therefore, it could take weeks for the supervisor to reach a conclusion, the statement said.
CNMV is also looking into Gotham City’s conduct to see if it complied with European Union regulation on market abuse “in particular those dealing with the distribution of misleading information.”
Grifols declined to comment, while Gotham City did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Jesus Aguado, editing by Inti Landauro)
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