Emerging reports suggest that Novartis has completed the spinoff of its Generics and Biosimilars division, Sandoz, on Wednesday, October 4.

The Swiss drug company first made its intention known in August 2022, commencing a strategic review to determine the fate of Sandoz. The review revealed a 100% spinoff was in the best interest of shareholders. Following that, Novartis shareholders approved this plan at the company’s Extraordinary General Meeting held in September.

Joerg Reinhardt, Chair of the Board of Directors of Novartis believes the step will allow both companies to optimize management focus and allocate capital on business priorities.

Novartis Priming for a Change with Sandoz Spinoff

CEO of Novartis International, Vasant Narasimhan highlighted the historicity of the moment for both companies. He noted that the spinoff was a culmination of the management’s effort in six years to reposition Novartis as a pure-play innovative medicines company.

“We exited consumer health to create one of the largest consumer health companies, exited Alcon in the largest public market spin in European capital markets, we exited our Roche stake”, told Narasimhan. With the spinoff complete, Novartis will now focus on R&D and bringing new medicinal products to markets around the world.

Following the announcement,  the shares of the company climbed more than 3% in early trade in Zurich. Novartis also expects to grow its sales and core operating income.

Sandoz to Build on Growth Momentum

Meanwhile, Sandoz has a strong brand position in Biosimilars and Generics medicine. In 2021, it generated $9.6bn in sales across 100 markets. It has also continued to grow its sales quarterly.

Narasimhan expressed confidence in Sandoz’s ability. He said:

“With several consecutive quarters of sales growth, Sandoz starts out from a position of strength as a global leader in Generics and Biosimilars.”

Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor agrees with this, stating that the company has a broad aim to build on its sales momentum over the last seven quarters.

“By becoming an independent company, we can focus on how we grow that business, bring more products to patients and continue to build on the momentum that we’ve created over the last couple of years,” he added.

Already, half of Sandoz’s revenue comes from Europe. Thus, it will be looking to leverage its brand presence in Europe for further growth. Jefferies analysts have valued the Sandoz listing at between $12.3 billion and $16.2 billion.

next

Business News, Market News, News, Stocks

An experienced writer with practical experience in the fintech industry. When not writing, he spends his time reading, researching or teaching.

The cloud arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (NASDAQ: BABA) has begun a layoff set to affect 7% of its total workforce. Sources describe the downsizing as part of broader measures to prepare Alibaba’s cloud division for a spinoff. Furthermore, sources add that the new standalone company would ultimately pursue an initial public offering (IPO).

In late March, reports stated that Alibaba would split into six business groups capable of pursuing IPOs. The company’s shares dipped marginally in pre-market trading Tuesday on news of the layoff development.

Alibaba has reportedly begun informing affected staff of its cloud division layoff plans. Inside sources stated that the Chinese multinational tech company is offering severance packages to affected staff. The company also plans to transfer some workers to other parts of its business empire as part of the headcount shakeup. However, one of the sources stressed that the transfer scheme is not guaranteed.

Alibaba, which is on course to streamline its cloud unit into a separate company within a year, employed over 235,000 people as of March.

Alibaba CEO Comments on Cloud Division Shakeup Amid Layoff Plans

Last week, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang detailed the company’s cloud division restructuring for the first time. Zhang explained that the Asian tech giant plans to entirely relinquish control of its once-thriving Alibaba Cloud venture. According to the chief executive, the e-commerce powerhouse views giving up control of the cloud arm as unlocking potential. Free from any potentially stifling Alibaba ownership constraints, the cloud unit can attract more significant growth potential as an independent entity.

Amid Alibaba Cloud’s agenda to operate as a separately-owned business entity, some analysts value the business above $30 billion. The reason is that the cloud business sector appears primed for substantial growth following ChatGPT’s explosive popularity. Furthermore, from a back-end point of view, ChatGPT’s technology relies on cloud-based resources to train next-gen artificial intelligence models.

Despite the positive outlook by experts, Alibaba Cloud’s representatives remained mum on suggestions that the unit would benefit from the AI revolution. Instead, reports stated that the cloud unit was selected as an early IPO candidate due to its more developed business model and customer profile. Furthermore, Zhang pointed out that the business’ spinoff was to establish its overall market structure and growth potential trajectory properly. The Alibaba CEO added that he believes a standalone cloud division could potentially outgrow and outpace Alibaba in size and scale. Zhang doubled down on his belief regarding the business offshoot’s potential if it attracted sound external financing.

Alibaba Businesses to Branch Out 6 Ways to Maximize Potential, Including Pursuing Separate IPOs

Approximately two months ago, Alibaba announced plans to split its services into 6 distinct standalone business groups. The company described the move as a way to “unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness” amid uncertain economic factors. Furthermore, Alibaba also said the six offshoot business groups revolve around its strategic priorities. The groups are Cloud Intelligence Group, Local Services Group, Tmall Commerce Group, Global Digital Commerce Group, Digital Media and Entertainment Group, and Cainiao Smart Logistics.

Each standalone business division would have its own CEO, board of directors, and potential public listing.

next

Business News, Market News, News

Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge.
When he’s not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.

Kenvue, the consumer-health spinoff announced by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) last year, has become the largest US IPO in over a year after going public on Thursday. The Kenvue brand debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), causing J&J’s shares to soar 22% on the same day. At the initial public offering (IPO), Kenvue was priced at $22 a night before its launch. However, the new company’s shares opened at $25.53 and closed at $26.90.

Kenvue Become Largest US IPO in Over a Year

Kenvue sold over 172.8 million shares during its IPO, more than the initial plan of 151 million. It secured approximately $3.8 billion from the sale, pushing the company’s valuation to approximately $41 billion. Following the public launch, Kenvue now trades under the ticker “KVUE” and covers a wide range of top consumer brands like Neutrogena, J&J’s namesake baby powder, Band-Aid, Listerine, Tylenol, and Aveeno.

Speaking on Thursday morning ahead of the debut, Kenvue CEO Thibaut Mongon was confident that millions globally woke up with at least one of the company’s products in their homes. Mongon used to be J&J’s executive vice president and worldwide chair of consumer health. Now, he will serve on Kenvue’s board.

Interestingly, Kenvue has been stacking up profits before its IPO. According to reports filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the J&J subsidiary generated $14.95 billion in sales for 2022 and a net income of $1.46 billion on a pro forma basis.

Additionally, first-quarter sales were around $3.85 billion, while its net income was about $330 million. It considers these results preliminary as it aims to grow its global annual sales through 2025 by 3-4%.

Despite the success of Kenvue’s IPO, Johnson & Johnson remains under allegations that some of its talc products are cancerous. These products are registered under J & J’s newly created business, Kenvue. However, the IPO filing shows that the spinoff will only respond to talc-related liabilities outside the US and Canada.

After being questioned on the liabilities, Mongon said Kenvue is “laser-focused on what we do best: serving our customers and also our portfolio with the brands that we mentioned”.

Kenvue Rejuvenate Hope in Collapsing Market

The debut of Kenvue has raised hope for the revival of the US IPO market after it collapsed last year. According to Renaissance Capital, the company’s public debut is currently the highest IPO this year. The combined value of the 40 IPOs in 2023 is about $2.4 billion, trailing by over $1 billion compared to Kenvue.

Since 2021, no IPO has surpassed the debut of Rivian, an electric vehicle maker that went public in November 2021. Shares of Rivian (RIVN) spiked by over 50 %, from $78 per price to $106.75. Regardless, Kenvue has overtaken Rivian to become the largest IPO.

next

Business News, IPO News, Market News, News, Stocks

Ibukun is a crypto/finance writer interested in passing relevant information, using non-complex words to reach all kinds of audience.
Apart from writing, she likes to see movies, cook, and explore restaurants in the city of Lagos, where she resides.

Floki Inu FLOKI/USD is trading higher by 10.12% to $0.00002604 Thursday morning. The meme crypto is trading higher on continued upward momentum after holders in January voted to burn millions of FLOKI tokens.

What Happened?

The rally in FLOKI price continues as holders voted for a proposal for burning millions of FLOKI tokens. The proposal has been approved, with over 4.97 trillion tokens, worth over $55 million removed permanently from circulation.

See Also: Apple Q1 Earnings Preview: Did Tech Giant Weather Macro Challenges Better?

Floki has a maximum supply of 10 trillion tokens, with more than half of them currently held in a cross-chain bridge. This bridge was created when the Floki Inu mainnet launched on the BNB Chain.

The FLOKI developer team has highlighted the significant security threats posed by this scenario, emphasizing in the proposal that cross-chain bridge exploits have caused over $2.5 billion in losses over the past two years…Read More

For the unitiated- the Floki Inu token was created in 2021, shortly after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted of a Shiba Inu saying “Floki has arrived”.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, FLOKI has a 52-week high of roughly $0.000062 and a 52-week low of roughly $0.0000048.