MADRID Dec. 3 () –
The Mason Capital fund is preparing a campaign to renew the board of directors of the blood products company, which includes the departure of Tomas Dagá Gelabert, current director of the Catalan firm under the category of another external one, after the withdrawal of Brookfield, according to have been confirmed by sources familiar with the negotiation to Europa Press.
In this context, marked by the withdrawal of Brookfield’s potential offer, the fund recently demanded in a letter to Grifols to incorporate Paul Herendeen to its board of directors as an independent director, who would be appointed by the group of minority shareholders formed by Flat Footed , Mason Capital and Sachem Head Capital Management, which own a joint stake representing 7.72% of the Catalan firm’s ‘A’ shares.
This request by Mason Capital, owner of 2.1% of Grifols’ class ‘A’ shares, occurred before knowing the decision of the British subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Capital Partners, not to launch an offer public acquisition of shares (OPA) on Grifols, which also closed the potential operation.
Specifically, the founding partner of Mason Capital, Kenneth M. Garschina, has declared in an interview with Bloomberg News that “he wants the board of directors of Grifols to be replaced”, referring to the “veteran director and old friend of the founding family.” Dagá, whom he accused of “conflict of interest and acting on the board as a representative of the family, owner of a third of the company.”
Dagá, when contacted about the accusations, stated that he had made his position available to other members of the council and that they refused to let him go, as this same medium has revealed.
The entity, for its part, already referred to this issue in the second letter it sent to the board of directors of Grifols, in which it highlighted that Dagá had revealed to Mason Capital that “he has voluntarily submitted his resignation to the board on three different occasions.” “.
“I have dedicated 44 years of my life to this company,” said Dagá, adding that, although he offered to leave his position on the board, he does not want to leave. “I have done good things and bad things, but I have enough dignity to put my position at the disposal of my colleagues,” he explained.
For his part, Garschina, who is now awaiting a decision on the appointment of Paul Herendeen as an independent director, trusts that the Grifols board will convene an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting “soon.”
He also indicated that Mason Capital is in “conversations” with other shareholders to also demand positions or help them “in another way” to renew the board, while advancing that he would pressure Grifols to reveal the fees that Dagá, who joined the board of administration in 2000, he received for advising the Catalan firm on legal matters.
“I challenge any institutional investor to call me to defend the actions of this board of directors, and of Daga, and say that they will vote for them at the next general meeting,” Garschina concluded.
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