As Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE: VRX) continues to face legal battles on several fronts and Relypsa Inc (Nasdaq: RLYP) struggles to ramp sales of its new drug, Irina Rivkind Koffler of Mizuho explains why she remains bearish on both companies.
Irina Rivkind Koffler, a prominent healthcare analyst with Mizuho, is one of the top 20 analysts rated (out of 3,929 analysts) on TipRanks.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc
Koffler continues to be an outspoken critic of Valeant as the biotech company faces legal battles with both the SEC and a Congress. Last week, reports surfaced that Valeant rejected a joint takeover offer by Takeda, a Japanese pharmaceutical company. The analyst views such prospects as “remote” and continues to warn against Valeant, noting that Valeant’s assets do not “warrant a premium bid at this time.”
The analyst continues to explain that she does not think “large shareholders can part with the stock, even at a premium to current levels.” Koffler elaborates, “We aren’t surprised by a speculation of a potential offer given where the stock is trading, or that Takeda was primarily interested in Valeant’s Salix segment rather than the entire business.” Valeant purchased Salix Pharmaceuticals last year for $11 billion and is most known for Xifaxan, a treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome; one of Valeant’s top sellers.
Koffler is not surprised that Valeant rejected the offer, noting, “large shareholders and Valeant Board members are so far underwater on their positions that they may be resistant to a potential bid which may ‘undervalue’ the company.” She warns that this stubbornness may “frustrate risk-tolerant retail investors” and consequently result in a “hostile offer and protracted battle to dislodge the current Board, which most activists may find unattractive.”
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