By Jesus Calero
(Reuters) -Shares of Novo Nordisk fell round 3% on Wednesday, extending their losses from a day earlier, after the Wegovy maker’s high investor proposed a sweeping board overhaul.
The non-profit Novo Nordisk Basis mentioned that present chair Helge Lund and 6 different impartial board members would step down subsequent month after a dispute with the muse over the tempo of change on the firm.
The inspiration plans to put in Lars Rebien Sorensen, a former Novo CEO and the chairperson of the muse, as the corporate chair for as much as three years. It has additionally proposed six new board members.
Novo’s shares, which have misplaced round 45% of their worth to this point this yr, closed 1.3% decrease on Tuesday. They’ve shed roughly $10 billion in market worth since Monday’s shut alone.
Analysts from Barclays mentioned in a analysis notice they have been “considerably stunned” by the timing and scale of the reshuffle, which got here only some months after the arrival of Novo’s new CEO Mike Doustdar in August.
“This seems to be a structural governance reset,” the analysts wrote, including the transfer gave the impression to be geared toward aligning the board composition with Novo’s pivot to client engagement, greater give attention to the U.S. market and potential offers.
Analyst Per Hansen from Nordnet described the board shake-up as a governance problem contained in the group.
“Disagreement between Novo and the muse was already seen when the CEO was fired. Not on request of Novo, however the basis,” Hansen advised Reuters.
He mentioned the reshuffle provides to investor nerves forward of third-quarter outcomes, with worries starting from Medicare pricing talks within the U.S. to competitors from Eli Lilly within the weigh-loss drug market.
“A number of challenges brief time period. A number of alternatives long run,” Hansen mentioned.
(Reporting by Jesus Calero in Gdansk, modifying by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
