Italian Ajani Emerges as Drug Billionaire in Switzerland
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Mauro Ajani loves his native Italy. That’s why in 2006 he tried to list Cosmo Pharmaceuticals SpA, the drugmaker he founded a decade earlier, in his hometown of Milan. After waiting three months to meet the head of the stock exchange there and getting no response, Ajani put sentimentality aside and called the SIX Swiss Exchange.
“Italy is a wonderful country,” Ajani told investors on a conference call last week. It’s also one of the most difficult countries to do deals in, he said. “If you are not a friend of a friend, everything is difficult.”