Prosecutors in Tokyo yesterday carried out the first arrests in connection with an accounting scandal that’s shaved 50% from the value of Olympus Corp. (TYO:7733) since last October.
Japanese authorities arrested former Olympus chairman &CEO Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice president Hisashi Mori and former in-house auditor Hideo Yamada, as well as Akio Nakagawa, a former consultant accused of helping to cook the books, and a trio of directors from Tokyo-based consulting firm Global Co., including Nobumasa Yokoo, who are also accused of helping enact the scheme.
Losses from bad investments were allegedly transferred to offshore accounts not directly connected with Olympus, so that the losses would not appear on the endoscopy giant’s books. The scandal broke last October after the company sacked CEO Michael Woodford after just 2 weeks on the job, prompting Woodford (the company’s first non-Japanese leader) top go public.
Japanese authorities raided the homes and offices of Olympus employees in December. The men arrested yesterday could each serve up to 10 years if found guilty, according to the New York Times.
Medtronic’s Irish pre-tax take slips 21%
Pre-tax profits for Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) slipped 21% in Ireland last year, to €149.8 million (~$197.0 million), according to the Irish Times.
Medtronic Vascular Galway Ltd. reported a 9% sales uptick, to €822.1 million (~$1.08 billion), for the fiscal year ended April 29, 2011. The decline is pegged to foreign exchange rates and an 11% increase in operating costs, driven by higher royalty payments, according to the newspaper. Medtronic employs about 1,826 people in the Emerald Isle. Read more
InVivo prices public offering
InVivo Therapeutics (OTC:NVIV) priced a public offering of nearly 8.3 million shares of common stock at $2.10 per share, for gross proceeds of roughly $17.4 million. InVivo said it expects to clear $15.7 million from the offering, which also includes an underwriters’ option to buy another 1.2 million shares to cover any over-allotments.
Aegis Capital Corp. and Summer Street Research Partners are the joint book-runners for the offering. Read more
Vivo Ventures closes $375m healthcare fund
Vivo Ventures, which invests in health care businesses, closed a $375 million fund. The venture capital shop said it plans to invest more inChinese and U.S. companies, dropping 55% of the new fund in the U.S. and the remainder in China. Read more
Analysts’ ups and downs
- Cynosure (NSDQ:CYNO): Citigroup upgrades from a "neutral" to "buy," sets $22 price target, up from $13.
- HeartWare International : Barclays Capital maintains "equal weight" rating, $70 price target; Leerink Swann maintains "outperform" rating, $95 price target, lowers EPS estimate to -$5.25 from -$2.95.
- Medtronic : Leerink Swann ups price target to $37-$39 from $37, maintains "market perform" rating.
