(Reuters) -Australian fertility business Monash IVF said on Thursday its chief executive officer and managing director, Michael Knaap, had resigned, days after reporting a second fertility clinic mix-up over a two-month span.
Shares of the company rose as much as 5.8% to A$0.64 at open in Sydney, signaling the news has helped calm investor concerns that had led to a 42% drop in Monash stock since the first mix-up was disclosed in April.
The company did not give out a reason behind Knaap’s resignation, and it did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Knaap previously served as Monash CFO for over three years and took over the CEO role in April 2019.
The second mix-up, reported a couple of days ago, raised concerns around an industry that did not have much active government attention until recently.
In April, the fertility company acknowledged that a patient at its Brisbane clinic had unknowingly given birth to another couple’s child, following the accidental transfer of an embryo belonging to a different patient.
The IVF provider’s finance chief, Malik Jainudeen, has taken over as acting CEO.
Jefferies analysts, in a note from June 10, said they believe publicity around these incidents is likely to lead to Australia IVF market share losses in the short-to-medium term.
The brokerage forecast Monash to lose 73 basis points of market share in fiscal 2026.
(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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