I wish Josh the very best in his future career. I do not know him personally, so my comments are purely impressions gained as a shareholder over recent years. Mesoblast, despite tomes of US regulatory filings, had in my view , particularly poor financial quarterly presentations. Whether or not , Josh was instrumental, or just facilitated, these disclosures …. the lack of clarity left many shareholders i know , fuming at the paucity of information regarding future cash flow requirements, etc.,. Furthermore, the Company listed on Nasdaq back in November 2015 with Josh joining approx 3 1/2 years ago in 2018. Despite, coming from a reasonably impressive US investment banking background , he failed in my opinion, on two particular fronts. He did not appear to help to stimulate support from a US institutional shareholder base (nor did he focus on making sure Mesoblast fulfilled the requirements for inclusion in the Nasdaq Biotech indices …which is crucial for attracting both passive funds or those with restrictive criteria for investment). Secondly, he did nothing to renegotiate the debt structure of the Company opportunistically , when the share price was buoyant…to be fair, he was heavily involved in the Grunenthal transaction, which was referenced on page 112 of the 2020 accounts and played his part in completion of various capital fundraising’s….but to me, he never looked as though he was going to shoot the lights out . Page 119 of the latest accounts reveals his notice period to be one month which hardly makes him a key person in the eyes of the board… but I have no doubt he left as a “good leaver” ….bearing in mind he is moving almost instantaneously into a new CFO position .
So my interpretation, is that Mesoblast is upgrading personnel for the opportunities ahead. This has already been evidenced with the appointment of Joe Swedish as Chairman , a new CMO , etc,etc,
I normally exercise a degree of caution when a CFO jumps ship…but I think we can allow this one to slip away silently in the night. The announcement of his departure was described as “not price sensitive” ….which sort of suggests this is just business as usual with no subterfuge.
Please do not rely on the accuracy of any facts or opinions given in this post when making an investment decision. OP
Expand
(20min delay)