When he joined Fresenius, former Eon and Siemens board member Sen announced that the group needed a “reset” and fundamental changes.
(Photo: IMAGO/Sven Simon)
Frankfurt The health group Fresenius is considering a separation from the dialysis subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care (FMC), which could be converted into a public company. As Fresenius announced on Thursday, as part of the strategic portfolio review initiated by CEO Michael Sen, the Dax company is exploring, among other things, a corresponding change of legal form from an AG & Co. KGaA to an AG. With this step, Fresenius would relinquish control of FMC and would no longer have to fully consolidate the dialysis specialist. The “Wirtschaftswoche” reported about it first.
Fresenius shares rose more than 3.6 percent on Thursday afternoon, while FMC shares fell more than 3.7 percent. The healthcare group Fresenius controls the dialysis subsidiary via the structure of a limited partnership on shares, but only holds 32 percent of the shares. Fresenius, in turn, is controlled by the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation via the KGaA structure.
According to Fresenius, the foundation announced that “it had taken note of and approved the plans to deconsolidate FMC by changing its legal form to a public limited company”. However, the review of the measures has not yet been completed and the decisions of the responsible bodies in the group are still pending. Investors are demanding a separation from the dialysis subsidiary, the health group’s recent profit warnings were primarily due to the poor operational development at FMC.
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The fantasies of splitting up got new fuel last October when the activist investor Paul Singer joined Fresenius. In November, Singer’s fund also disclosed a short position of 0.64 percent of the shares in Fresenius Medical Care. The position is a bet on FMC going down, while protecting Elliott’s slightly less than 5 percent stake in Fresenius.
For many years, the Dax companies Fresenius and Fresenius Medical Care were considered success stories on the stock exchange, but since 2017 both companies have lost more than half of their value on the stock exchange. First, the momentum in the operational business slowed down, then came the corona pandemic, which hit both companies massively.
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