Tycoon Stephen Saad’s Aspen hands back $265m via buybacks

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd., the drugmaker co-founded and run by South African tycoon Stephen Saad, has returned about R4.4 billion ($265 million) to shareholders through share buybacks under its current approval, after an aggressive round of purchases in early November.

Aspen bought 14,992,000 of its own shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, paying between R161.33 and R164.89 each, at an average of R162.01, the company said in a filing on Nov. 5. The purchases cost R2.43 billion ($146 million) and covered about 3.3% of the company’s issued shares.

That brought the total bought back since shareholders granted a general repurchase authority on Dec. 4, 2025, to 28,322,879 shares, or about 6.3% of the shares in issue at the time. Aspen can still buy back up to 60,927,587 shares, about 13.7% of its share capital, under the same approval. It holds 16,414,303 shares in treasury, and said the purchases were funded from cash.

Cash from Europe

The buybacks followed the sale of rights to Ovestin, a women’s health product, in Europe. Aspen said on Nov. 5 that it had received €197 million ($221 million) for the rights on Nov. 3, and that share buybacks are its preferred way of returning capital to shareholders.

Buying back shares reduces the number in circulation, which increases the share of the company owned by remaining investors, including Saad.

Saad’s stake

Saad co-founded Aspen in 1997 and has led it as chief executive since then, building it into a global supplier of anaesthetics and generic medicines. He owns about 58.86 million shares, a stake worth about R9.94 billion ($599 million) when the shares traded at R168.86 earlier this week.

Aspen’s shares have risen about 74% over the past year. This week the company also received regulatory approval in Brazil and South Africa for a generic version of injectable semaglutide, the active ingredient in weight-loss and diabetes drugs.

Figures were converted at R16.6 to the dollar.