Grifols Gets $6B Takeover Offer from Founding Family, Brookfield to Go Private

 Grifols said on Monday it is considering a buy offer from the Catalan family and Canadian investment firm Brookfield which would delist it from the Spanish and Nasdaq stock markets, according to multiple media outlets. The deal is potentially worth around $6 billion based on the current market value. 

“According to the information provided to the Board of Directors, Brookfield and the Family Shareholders have reached an agreement to evaluate a possible joint takeover bid to acquire all the share capital of Grifols,” the company said, according to a statement provided by Spain’s regulator. 

The Catalan family currently controls around 30% of the company's shares. Trading of Grifols’ stock was suspended early Monday morning by the Spanish regulator, Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores, but has since resumed trading. The stock is trading over 30% higher in premarket on takeover interest. 

The founding family of Grifols is looking to take back control of the plasma-based medicines manufacturer following a tumultuous year. A short-seller attack in January 2024 sent the company’s shares tumbling and wiped $3.83 billion from Grifols’ valuation at the time, after Gotham City Research questioned the manufacturer’s accounting practices and alleged that Grifols is overstating earnings and understating debt.  

In response to the allegations, Grifols denied any wrongdoing but removed all family members from executive positions and hired an outside CEO and CFO.   

Barclays analyst Charles Pitman said Monday that the potential takeover would allow a new management team to focus on improving operations. Grifols is currently saddled with over $10.8 billion in debt, according to CincoDías news, with more than $3.1 billion maturing this year and $3.3 billion in 2027. 

On the positive side of the ledger, Grifols scored a recent win with the FDA approval last month of Yimmugo, an intravenous immunoglobulin treatment for primary immunodeficiencies. The asset was picked up in a 2022 acquisition of Biotest. Grifols expects Yimmugo to reach $1 billion in sales over the next seven years. 

https://www.biospace.com/article/grifols-gets-6b-takeover-offer-from-founding-family-brookfield-to-go-private-/

Chaos Erupts During White House Press Briefing Over Biden-Parkinson's Questions

 White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre got into a heated exchange with multiple reporters, where she declined to answer why a Parkinson's specialist had been to the White House at least nine times in the past year.

Jean-Pierre admitted that Biden had seen a neurologist three times during his presidency as part of his annual physical, but then began to demur when asked for specifics about the visitor logs.

"Ed, I also said to you for security reasons, we cannot share names. We cannot share names," she told CBS News senior White House correspondent Ed O'Keefe, who said she should be able to answer questions regarding Biden's health.

"You cannot share names of others he would’ve met with, but you can share names in regards if someone came here in regards to the president," O'Keefe shot back.

"We cannot share names of specialists broadly. From a dermatologist to a neurologist. We cannot share names," she replied. "There are security reasons—Ed, I hear you. I cannot from here confirm any of that because we have to keep their privacy. I think they would appreciate that too."

Watch:

Jean-Pierre then went on the offensive...

Meanwhile...

As we noted on Saturday, evidence has emerged that Dr. Kevin R Cannard traveled to the White House's medical clinic at least nine times, meeting with either President Joe Biden's personal physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor, or a naval nurse who coordinates care for the president and other senior officials. O'Connor notably gave Biden a clean bill of health after his February annual physical.

The visits spanned July 28, 2023 with the latest being March 28 of this year, according to visitor logs.

According to Cannard's physician profile page, he is a "neurologist and movement disorders specialist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center" who specializes in treatments for "early Parkinson's disease." Since 2012, he has served as the "neurology specialist supporting the White House Medical Unit," per his LinkedIn page.

His most recent paper was published in August 2023 in the journal Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, and focuses on the “early-stage” of the crippling disease.

Since Biden’s health is O’Connor’s primary responsibility, it is highly probable the meeting was about the commander in chief, according to Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tx), the doctor for both Presidents Obama and Trump.

“It’s highly likely they were talking about Biden,” Jackson told The Post. -NY Post

"He should only be [regularly] treating the president and the first family," Jackson continued.

Walter Reed cardiologist Dr. John. E. Atwood was also present during a Jan. 17 meeting, the NY Post reports.

According to Jackson, who has never treated Biden, O'Connor and Biden's family are trying to "cover up" Biden's declining cognitive health.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-chaos-erupts-during-white-house-press-briefing-over-biden-parkinsons-questions

Aerovate Therapeutics to Explore Strategic Alternatives

 Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVTE), which previously announced it was halting enrollment and shutting down the Phase 3 portion of the Inhaled iMatinib Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Clinical Trial (IMPAHCT) as well as the long-term extension study, today announced that it will conduct a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives focused on maximizing shareholder value.

As part of this review process, Aerovate has engaged Wedbush PacGrow as the company’s exclusive strategic financial advisor to assist in the process of exploring strategic alternatives, which may include but are not limited to, an acquisition, merger, reverse merger, business combination, liquidation or other transaction. There can be no assurance that this review process will result in Aerovate pursuing a transaction or that any transaction, if pursued, will be completed on attractive terms. Aerovate has not set a timetable for completion of this review process and does not intend to comment further unless or until the Board of Directors has approved a definitive course of action, the review process is concluded, or it is determined that other disclosure is appropriate.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/07/08/2909566/0/en/Aerovate-Therapeutics-to-Explore-Strategic-Alternatives.html

Gilead upped to Outperform from Market Perform by Raymond James

 Target $93

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=GILD&ty=c&ta=1&p=d

Kymera Expands KT-474 (SAR444656) HS and AD Phase 2 Studies

  Kymera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KYMR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a new class of small molecule medicines using targeted protein degradation (TPD), today announced that following a review of preliminary KT-474 safety and efficacy data by an Independent Data Review Committee, Sanofi has informed Kymera that it intends to expand the ongoing Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) and Atopic Dermatitis (AD) Phase 2 trials to more rapidly progress towards pivotal studies.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/07/08/2909952/0/en/Kymera-Announces-Expansion-of-KT-474-SAR444656-HS-and-AD-Phase-2-Studies-Following-Interim-Review-of-Safety-and-Efficacy.html

Americans Are Poorer - The US Misery Index Rises Again

 by Daniel Lacalle,

I frequently receive comments about the strength of the United States economy and the unfairness of perceiving things as less than stellar. Is it really the “strongest economy ever”?

It’s evident that it’s far from being the “strongest economy ever.”

The United States unemployment rate has risen to 4.1%, the highest in three years, which is also significantly higher than the level seen in 2019. In June, a 70,000 increase in government jobs boosted payroll employment by 206,000. One-third of job creation is public sector jobs paid with more debt. Both the employment-to-population ratio and the labour force participation ratio are below the pre-pandemic level and immigrants account for all the labour force growth since the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Ned Davis Research.

Inflation remains persistent and citizens have lost more than 24% of their purchasing power since 2019, with a 0.6% negative real wage growth in the January 2021–June 2024 period.

Real wage growth in 2024 is rising only 0.8% year-on-year.

This shows why the United States Misery Index is rising to 7.4% in June from 6.8% in January. The Misery Index, which measures unemployment and inflation, bottomed out in 2023 and has been worsening since then. Furthermore, the index is far away from the pre-pandemic level of 5.4%.

All these measures allow us to understand why Americans are negative about the economy. Despite messages of redistribution, social policies, and equality, the average citizen is poorer, and only the wealthy have been able to improve their position and navigate high rates and inflation thanks to investments in the stock market. While this shouldn’t come as a surprise, it’s important to remember. There is nothing social about increasing debt, deficit spending, and taxes.

The problem for most Americans is that it is increasingly difficult to make ends meet despite record government spending, or because of its negative impact on inflation and taxes.

There is a reason why we should be worried about rising discontent and impoverishment. The placebo effect of government spending on GDP is declining. Real gross domestic income (GDI) increased 1.3 percent in the first quarter, a downward revision of 0.2 percentage points from the previous estimate and a market slowdown. The average of real GDP and real GDI, a supplemental measure of U.S. economic activity that equally weights GDP and GDI, increased 1.4 percent in the first quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

If we look forward, Americans are going to have to choose between two options:

1. further impoverishment with Keynesian policies;

2. or making a dramatic pro-growth turn where policy is targeted at improving disposable income, increasing investment, and strengthening productivity and real economic growth.

We know that it will be impossible to cut the current deficit with tax hikes. There is no revenue measure that will generate two trillion US dollars per year, and it is impossible to increase taxes further without punishing investment. The problem in the United States is mandatory spending, as the CBO expects outlays to reach 24.9% of GDP in 2036, while revenues will reach a record but insufficient 18%. If the Federal Reserve continues to monetize debt, Americans will suffer from the inflation impact as well as the rising cost of housing. The US dollar’s purchasing power will continue to decline. However, it is easier to create two trillion US dollars of productive GDI than to tax two additional trillion dollars per year out of the existing fiscal base.

Yes, the only solution for the United States is pro-growth, pro-business policies that defend the purchasing power of the US dollar. So-called social policies have only made everyone poorer and hurt the middle class.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/americans-are-poorer-us-misery-index-rises-again

Credit Card Debt Unexpectedly Surges As Card APR Hits New All-Time HIgh

 One month after we recorded the first decline in revolving credit (i.e., credit card debt), since the covid crisis, the expectation was for continued consumer retrenching and more credit card paydowns at a time of record high APRs. However, it is far easier to drag the horse to the water and to get him to drink, than to keep spending-addicted US consumers away from their credit cards all time high APRs be demand, and according to today's latest release of Consumer Credit data from the Fed in May revolving credit surged by a whopping $7 billion, a sharp reversal to the April drop of $0.9 bilion and the biggest increase since February.

At the same time, non-revolving credit - student and auto loans - posted a modest $4.3 billion increase, down from the $7.3 billion in April but a big jump from the $3 billion drop in April.

Combining the two, in May total consumer credit rose by $11.3 billion the biggest jump since February which however was an outlier monthly driven entirely by a burst of credit card spending. And while May was clearly an unexpectedly strong month, the trend is clear: we peak in early 2022 and it has all been downhill since then.

Finally, a vivid reminder that once credit card rates go up they almost never go down, in Q2 the average interest rate on credit card accounts rose again, up to 22.76% from 22.63% in Q1 and 1 basis point below the all time high.

While so far consumers have pretended they can afford to pay this interest upon interest, there will come a day when the brick wall will finally be reached and the US consumer's Wile E Coyote moment will finally come meet its gravitational implosion.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/credit-card-debt-unexpectedly-surges-card-apr-hits-new-all-time-high