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Question asked 14/02/2026

CSL Ltd (CSL)

Lots of commentary naturally on CSL after their half yearly release. My question is focused on how MM views the Board and senior mgmt capabilities given that after only a few years of acquiring Vifor (a massive acquisition price play) because - surprise surprise many of Vifor patents expired and gosh - competitors were able to release competitive products quickly. How in heck could CSL Board not be aware of either patents expiring AND the capabilities of their competitors? So - if Mgmt is seemingly this incompetent with shareholders money should not MM cut and run with existing investment? Apologies for being so negative (I am not a shareholder) David

Answer

Hi David,

Firstly, congratulations on not being a shareholder in recent times!

CSL acquired Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company Vifor Pharma in a major all-cash deal valued at about $US11.7 billion in 2022, the deal was announced in December 2021. Like so many major acquisitions by ASX stocks, it’s been a disappointment.

There’s a few moving parts in this very topical question:

Patents expiring was obviously known to the board, the real issue isn’t awareness, it’s judgment around how quickly competitors could scale and whether pricing pressure would be manageable – they got this wrong.

From a strategic perspective, Vifor likely looked attractive because it diversified CSL away from plasma BUT their timing was wrong and they paid too much. This has become a large, balance-sheet-shifting deal that has led to a rerating of CSL and ultimately credibility damage at the board level. However, Vifor wasn’t the issue in this week’s result with Vifor revenue growing by more than expected +14.6% driven by Nephrology, the weak result came from the core plasma business.

Moving forward is now what matters. CSL will have a new CEO, a good thing in our opinion and the stock is offering enough value here for us to be a little patient – for now.

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CSL Ltd (CSL)

LAST UPDATED 11/02/2026 11:24

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