Valeant Pharmaceuticals International seems to be in free-fall once again after losing another 6.4 percent on Wednesday. It closed at $9.52 and is now down more than 34 percent just for the year-to-date. Remember, the stock fell 86 percent last year.
There are several theories as to why the stock fell on Wednesday. For one thing, an Australian business publication said Valeant is getting bids for below the $1 billion it is seeking for its iNova subsidiary to help raise cash. Other reports suggested investors were unhappy with the company’s explanation for its hefty executive pay packages contained in a follow-up proxy filing late Tuesday. We had earlier reported that current and former officers made a total of about $130 million last year. Joseph Papa, who became chairman and CEO last May, earned a package valued at $62.7 million. This includes stock awards valued at about $42 million and options valued at $10 million. He also received a $9.125 million bonus. In Tuesday’s updated proxy filing, the company stressed that Papa’s pay package “reflects appropriate and customary terms for recruiting a sitting CEO at a major company.” It also said the package is “consistent on an annualized basis” with the industry median, and included a mandatory purchase of $5 million of Valeant shares when Papa was hired. Valeant also said that during 2016 Papa’s leadership “helped stabilize the business, reduce permanent debt and sell non-core assets, rebuild the executive team, improve employee and sales force retention, and improve stakeholder relationships.”
Valeant also said that in 2017, it implemented a new executive long-term incentive program for its senior-most executives “that is consistent with pharmaceutical industry best practices.”
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Alan Howard’s Brevan Howard Asset Management raised more than $3 billion for a new hedge fund called “AH Fund,” according to Reuters. Investors are being told the new macro fund will be more volatile than Brevan Howard’s flagship hedge fund, according to the report. The firm raised more than $700 million from outside investors, another $400 million to $500 million from Howard personally, and about $2 billion transferred from the firm’s flagship hedge fund, according to the report. The fund remains open and may take in another $500 million depending upon performance. Last year, the Brevan Howard Fund returned 3.02 percent, its first profit in three years.
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Marcato Capital Management sold about 50,000 shares of Trinity Place Holdings, trimming its stake in the real estate company to 14.1 percent.
