ImClone chief, director resign over Icahn takeover row
ImClone Systems said its chairman and another director resigned, moving billionaire investor Carl Icahn a step closer to taking control of the biotechnology company.
By Agencies |
BOSTON: ImClone Systems said its chairman and another director resigned, moving billionaire investor Carl Icahn a step closer to taking control of the biotechnology company. David Kies quit as chairman and William Crouse as a director, New York-based ImClone said today in a statement. Mr Icahn, 70, had asked stockholders to oust the two along with four other board members. He and his allies now occupy four of the remaining 10 directorships. Shares of ImClone jumped as much as 4.7% after rallying last week when management disclosed a $36-a-share takeover offer by a large drugmaker it didn’t identify. The New York Times said the company was Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis, citing unidentified people involved in the proposed transaction. Icahn last week said he blocked a deal because the company is worth more than $36 a share.
“Investors probably think this means Icahn will influence the company to put itself back on the block,” said Michael King, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw in New York, in a telephone interview. “Mr Icahn has had the chairman in his crosshairs for a while.” Mr Icahn, the company’s second-biggest stockholder with 14%, has been pressing to replace management since a search for a buyer failed in August.
He said on September 28 that he didn’t plan a renewed effort to sell the company. The bid he rejected was a non-cash, conditional offer made with the potential buyer’s stock, which was “overpriced,” Mr Icahn said last week.
ImClone needs a different board and a new chief executive to expand sales of the cancer treatment Erbitux, ImClone’s only product, Mr Icahn said in an interview two weeks ago.
Shares of ImClone jumped $1.23, or 4.1%, to $31.13 in the Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The stock hasn’t traded as high as $36 since July and through yesterday was down 12% this year. New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb is ImClone’s biggest holder with 17%. Company spokesman Tony Plohoros declined to comment today.
Jean-Marc Podvin, Sanofi’s spokesman, declined to comment on the Times report. Icahn wasn’t available for comment today at his office in New York and a message left for his assistant, Susan Gordon, wasn’t immediately returned.
“A new chairman has not been decided on or decisions on our actions with regard to Mr Icahn’s consent solicitation,” Pitts said. Crouse, managing director of Healthcare Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts, didn’t immediately return calls to his offices in Cambridge or Princeton, New Jersey.
“Investors probably think this means Icahn will influence the company to put itself back on the block,” said Michael King, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw in New York, in a telephone interview. “Mr Icahn has had the chairman in his crosshairs for a while.” Mr Icahn, the company’s second-biggest stockholder with 14%, has been pressing to replace management since a search for a buyer failed in August.
He said on September 28 that he didn’t plan a renewed effort to sell the company. The bid he rejected was a non-cash, conditional offer made with the potential buyer’s stock, which was “overpriced,” Mr Icahn said last week.
ImClone needs a different board and a new chief executive to expand sales of the cancer treatment Erbitux, ImClone’s only product, Mr Icahn said in an interview two weeks ago.
Shares of ImClone jumped $1.23, or 4.1%, to $31.13 in the Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The stock hasn’t traded as high as $36 since July and through yesterday was down 12% this year. New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb is ImClone’s biggest holder with 17%. Company spokesman Tony Plohoros declined to comment today.
Jean-Marc Podvin, Sanofi’s spokesman, declined to comment on the Times report. Icahn wasn’t available for comment today at his office in New York and a message left for his assistant, Susan Gordon, wasn’t immediately returned.
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“A new chairman has not been decided on or decisions on our actions with regard to Mr Icahn’s consent solicitation,” Pitts said. Crouse, managing director of Healthcare Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts, didn’t immediately return calls to his offices in Cambridge or Princeton, New Jersey.
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