Mithra applies for legal protection

The ailing Walloon pharmaceutical company Mithra, which specializes in women’s health products, has applied for judicial protection at the Liège corporate court. Mithra reported this in a press release on Thursday morning.

Mithra requests a transfer procedure under judicial authority for its Mithra CDMO department in Flémalle. In such a procedure there is protection against creditors and the court appoints a legal representative who looks for a buyer for the company in difficulties or for parts of it.

For its branch Novalon, Mithra is requesting a judicial reorganization procedure in order to reach an amicable agreement with its creditors and restructure Novalon’s debt.

In order to carry out these two procedures, Mithra also asks the court for two months of protection against all its creditors.

At the beginning of this month, Mithra started a sales process in which the pharmaceutical company wants to sell parts or even all of its activities in order to raise the necessary money. Mithra also indicated on Thursday that it has made progress in identifying potential buyers for parts of the company. Mithra has hired Stifel Investment Bank for this purpose. Several conversations are said to be underway.

Penny share

Mithra was founded a quarter of a century ago by the discredited former CEO François Fornieri and doctor Jean-Michel Foidart. At the beginning of this month, the company reported that its CEO was resigning immediately and in the middle of this month Mithra reported economic unemployment for at least a quarter of its staff. The company said it had received approval from the RVA for this. Mithra employs around 230 people.

Mithra suffered a loss of 173.5 million euros last year. A year earlier, the net loss was almost 60 million euros. The new loss was partly the result of 74.1 million euros in write-downs on assets. Turnover fell from 67 to 40.2 million euros. The Mithra share, which was still quoted above 35 euros in 2018, is today only a penny share.

On February 19, according to Mithra’s website, the main shareholders of the company were François Fornieri (15.64 percent), the American investment company Armistice Capital (14.47 percent) and the Walloon government holding Noshaq (formerly Meusinvest, 7.94 per cent). Investment company Alychlo of entrepreneur Marc Coucke also had a substantial stake in Mithra in the past, but has recently reduced this.