(Bloomberg) -- Grifols SA’s shares rose after announcing a management reshuffle that included removing family members from executive positions and naming a new chief executive officer.

The Spanish blood plasma product maker was up 2.8% to €10.675 per share at 9:55 a.m. in Madrid Tuesday, after rising as much as 4.6% earlier. The shares were down 31% this year prior to the start of trading Tuesday.

On Monday, the company announced that Raimon Grifols is stepping down as chief corporate officer and Victor Grifols Deu will leave his role as chief operating officer. Both are members of the firm’s founding family and will retain their board seats.

The company also named Nacho Abia, most recently executive officer at Olympus Corporation, to become CEO as of April 1. Thomas Glanzmann, who was previously both CEO and chairman, will continue as executive chair.

Scranton Enterprises BV, Grifols’ second-largest shareholder and a vehicle linked to the Grifols family, was at the center of short-seller Gotham City Research’s report, published Jan. 9, which criticized the company’s accounting practices and corporate governance. In particular, Gotham highlighted the earnings consolidation of two businesses that Grifols sold to Scranton. 

The company has denied any wrongdoing and has sued Gotham City Research in a complaint filed in federal court in New York. In Spain, the markets regulator has requested that Scranton give details of its shareholders, accounts and business, Bloomberg News has reported.

Monday’s changes are “good news”, Banco Santander SA analyst Jaime Escribano wrote in a note to clients. “We believe the market was urging the family members to relinquish their executive positions in the company,” Escribano wrote.

Scranton’s largest shareholder is Raimon Grifols, with a stake of less than 11%, according to a company document seen by Bloomberg. He’s followed by Tomas Daga, a partner at law firm Osborne Clarke and Grifols board member, and former Chairman Victor Grifols Roura, the document showed. 

Abia, the incoming CEO, will join Grifols’ board Feb. 26. He has 25 years of management experience at publicly traded companies, according to Monday’s filing. 

--With assistance from Clara Hernanz Lizarraga, Macarena Muñoz and Joe Easton.

(Updates shares in second paragraph, adds analyst comment in seventh paragraph.)

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