April 2, 2024

Nacho Abia begins tenure as new Grifols CEO

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  • Abia will focus on continuing to accelerate the company’s growth, furthering its operational excellence and continuing its deleveraging plan
  • Thomas Glanzmann continues as Executive Chairman, with Abia reporting to him
  • Raimon Grifols and Víctor Grifols Deu transfer their respective responsibilities to Abia and will remain as advisors in a transition period until May 31, 2024
  • The moves conclude a meticulously planned corporate governance evolution that began in 2022 to separate ownership from company management

Barcelona, Spain, April 2, 2024 – Grifols (MCE:GRF, MCE:GRF.P, NASDAQ:GRFS), a global healthcare company and leading manufacturer of plasma-derived medicines, today announced that on April 1 Nacho Abia officially assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer.

“It’s a privilege to help this great company into the next era of sustainable growth, following my predecessors, who have done so much to enhance the health of patients and the well-being of society through essential therapeutics and other healthcare solutions,” said Abia. “With sound fundamentals, a talented workforce and exciting innovation, I have no doubt that Grifols has an even greater future ahead.”

Abia added that his priorities include accelerating growth, further sharpening operational excellence and continuing to execute the company’s deleveraging plan as well as continuing to improve clarity and reduce complexity in operations. Abia reports to Thomas Glanzmann, who remains Executive Chairman.

“With Nacho, Grifols gets the best of both worlds, a veteran healthcare executive whose operational success and personal values will provide familiarity and continuation, yet an outside perspective that will surely enhance critical aspects of how we continue to grow and further improve our company,” said Glanzmann.

Effective April 1, Raimon Grifols and Víctor Grifols Deu transferred their respective responsibilities as Chief Corporate Officer and Chief Operating Officer, to Abia. They will serve as advisors in a transition period through May 31, 2024.

“On behalf of the Board, a very special thank you to Raimon and Victor for their valuable service and contributions to Grifols, which have enabled the company to grow successfully and sustainably over the past years,” said Glanzmann.

Grifols announced the changes to corporate governance on February 5, 2024. Coinciding with Abia assuming executive functions as CEO on April 1, he also became an executive director of the Grifols Board and is no longer in the category of “other external,” held since February 27 of this year.

The evolution in corporate governance began in 2022, an initiative of Raimon Grifols and Víctor Grifols Deu, who together with the Board architected a gradual approach to separating the company’s ownership from its day-to-day management. As the company’s post-pandemic recovery began to gain momentum the Board began to activate the carefully sequenced changes culminating in today’s announcement.