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Ascendis Health rights offer oversubscribed

Johannesburg - Ascendis Health [JSE:ASC] announced on Monday that its R1.2bn rights issue, which closed last week, has been more than three times oversubscribed.

The company said it had secured the required funding to conclude its recent R7.3bn acquisitions of global pharma company Remedica, based in Cyprus, and European sports nutrition company Scitec. Remedica is a specialist generics pharmaceutical company with a presence in over 100 countries and a major supplier of pharmaceuticals to non-governmental organisations active in medical relief. Scitec is a European sports nutrition company that sells its products in nearly 90 countries globally.

About half of Ascendis’ sales will now be generated by foreign operations and products will be sold in about 144 countries. Founded in 2008 and listed on the JSE since 2013, the group’s strategy is based on organic, acquisitive and synergistic growth locally and internationally.

"Notwithstanding the conclusion of a successful rights offer to fund the deals, Ascendis secured additional irrevocable undertakings from existing and new strategic shareholders to the total value of R2.3bn at the time of the release of the circular, and entered into an underwriting agreement with Absa Bank and HSBC Bank to fully underwrite the rights offer," Ascendis said on Monday.

This underwriting of the rights offer was, however, not required as the 54 million rights offer shares were snapped up by supportive shareholders. Additional support, via the irrevocable undertakings, was received from a mix of local and several international investors, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a division of the World Bank.

“This overwhelming support from the local and international investment community is extremely encouraging, and a continuing vote of confidence for our proposition, our delivery and focussed globalisation strategy,” said Ascendis CEO Dr Karsten Wellner.

He explained that the products and distribution networks offered by Remedica and Scitec and the Spanish pharma company Farmalider, which was acquired during 2015, complement each other, making it possible for the combined group to offer a broader range of health products, while at the same time driving organic growth synergies.

"It is expected that the transactions will be concluded by the beginning of September, and will boost Ascendis’ current market cap from R7.3bn to more than R10bn," said Wellner.

"A rights issue which is significantly oversubscribed is surely an indication of the trust the market has in Ascendis, its management and its growth strategies.”

According to Wellner, Ascendis' strategy is to complement growth in the domestic health and care market through international expansion and by acquiring platform businesses offshore. The latest acquisitions in the European Union will be game changing for Ascendis, in his view, and position the group as an international health and care business of scale.


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