Ascendis chairperson ousted in boardroom coup over questions about corporate espionage

• Author: Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Publication title: Cape Times, The (Cape Town, South Africa)

The annual meeting was held at 10am yesterday morning, and at about 5.30pm, the prior evening, Smit said a board director Bharti Hari had called him to tell him that if he raised questions about his allegations of corporate espionage at the meeting, he would be voted off the board

Smit said in a telephone interview after the meeting yesterday that he had laid the complaint relating to “corporate espionage” at the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), which was now investigating the claims.

Smit said just two of the issues related to the fact that acting chief executive and chief transition officer Carl Neethling was claiming to shareholders he was working for R1, while at the same time had requested an R18 million bonus by June next year. He also made allegations about “kickbacks” relating to the sale of the Pharma division.

Ascendis in July sold its pharmaceutical business to Austell Pharmaceuticals for R410m, with the purchase price set off against a R590m loan that Ascendis concluded with Austell Pharmaceuticals in May 2022, to repay Ascendis’s lenders.

Ascendis’s pharmaceuticals business houses its generics portfolio and the Reuterina probiotics brand.

Smit said that when he tried to raise his concerns at the annual meeting, he was told that he could only raise matters related to the resolutions being considered, and “I was shut out” of the online meeting.

“I have always stood by the shareholders. I would never make unsubstantiated claims. I intend to continue investigating and do all the necessary reporting that is required,” he said.

He said the FSCA had already been approached to investigate his claims.

Neethling said in a...