Earlier this month, Biogen Idec Inc., the Cambridge- Massachusetts based company known for its multiple sclerosis drugs, wanted to acquire Facet Biotech Corp., and has bid $493 million toward that end. That works out to $17.50 a share.
Facet refused the bid, and Biogen threatened a proxy contest.
This seemed to have the effect that an unwanted suitor often does -- the maiden looks about for a white knight. She "lets down her hair," like the gal at the top of the Tower, if the right man is standing beneath. Thus, we get an announcement like this:
Facet Biotech recently announced that it has agreed to amend its rights agreement [i.e. let down said hair] to permit Baupost Group to purchase a number of additional shares without the rights under the rights agreement becoming exercisable. Baupost beneficially owned 3.5 million shares of Facet Biotech common stock on December 16, 2009, which represents 14 percent of the total shares outstanding. The amendment will increase the ownership limit for Baupost from 15 percent to 20 percent of the total outstanding shares of Facet Biotech common stock.
Ah, the ways of love.
Showing posts with label Biogen Idec. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biogen Idec. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Biogen Idec
In a filing with the SEC yesterday, Carl Icahn and associated entities said that they've increased their stake in the biopharm company Biogen Idec from 4.3% to 6%.
Biogen, a Cambridge, Mass. based concern, (NASD: BIIB) has a market value of close to $15 billion, and employs more than 4,000 people.
Two months ago, Icahn tried to get three nominees on the Biogen board, and as regular readers of this blog know, they were defeated.
But Icahn is nothing if not persistent, and that he has responded to defeat not by liquidating his stake but by increasing it is characteristic.
There is also the little matter of the price chart. The price of a share of BIIB was above $57 when Icahn's slate lost that election. It's below $51 now. What has changed?
This has changed: there have been two occurrences of a fatal brain disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), among patients receiving a Biogen producr, Tysabri. Tysabri has been linked with PML before, and these new occurrences could spook doctors into keeping their patients off the stuff.
If that happens, it could be a misfortune all around. Tysabri is reportedly very effective in improving the quality of life of people with both multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease which is why it was allowed back on to the market despite a previous round of PML reports in 2005.
Both of the two new Tysabri-taking PML patients were warned that an increased risk of that disease was a side effect of this drug.
Risk/reward. Reward/risk. It isn't just business. It's life. Though one must always hope that the researchers in the field will press on toward improving the terms of such trade-offs.
Biogen, a Cambridge, Mass. based concern, (NASD: BIIB) has a market value of close to $15 billion, and employs more than 4,000 people.
Two months ago, Icahn tried to get three nominees on the Biogen board, and as regular readers of this blog know, they were defeated.
But Icahn is nothing if not persistent, and that he has responded to defeat not by liquidating his stake but by increasing it is characteristic.
There is also the little matter of the price chart. The price of a share of BIIB was above $57 when Icahn's slate lost that election. It's below $51 now. What has changed?
This has changed: there have been two occurrences of a fatal brain disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), among patients receiving a Biogen producr, Tysabri. Tysabri has been linked with PML before, and these new occurrences could spook doctors into keeping their patients off the stuff.
If that happens, it could be a misfortune all around. Tysabri is reportedly very effective in improving the quality of life of people with both multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease which is why it was allowed back on to the market despite a previous round of PML reports in 2005.
Both of the two new Tysabri-taking PML patients were warned that an increased risk of that disease was a side effect of this drug.
Risk/reward. Reward/risk. It isn't just business. It's life. Though one must always hope that the researchers in the field will press on toward improving the terms of such trade-offs.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Icahn's Slate Loses at BIIB
I reported in April that Carl Icahn was making waves at a company called Biogen Idec.
Now we can report that Icahn put forward a three-nominee slate in a contested election for four open board seats at the annual meeting held last week.
It isn't clear what the margin of defeat was. But it is now clear that all the Icahn-backed candidates were defeated.
The management candidates received an important assist from each of the major proxy advisory services. ISS Governance Services, part of RiskMetrics Group, said in its report that "the dissident has not met its burden of proving that board change is warranted at Idec. Absent a showing that the incumbent board has failed in some fashion, we find it difficult to support the removal of directors."
Said Glass Lewis: "Shareholders should support management's nominees. In our opinion the current board and executives have created substantial value for shareholders and we believe that the Company has solid growth opportunities as a stand-alone entity."
And to make it unanimous, Proxy Governance weighed in thus: "Given the track record of this board and its management team over the five years since Biogen and Idec merged, as well as significant performance targets to which the company has committed itself through 2010, we believe shareholders will be better served by re-electing the management slate of nominees."
The thing about Icahn is -- he keeps up with these things, and over time can simply wear opposition down. He may have something more to say about BIIB going forward, or he may sell his shares and move on to something else.
He might, for example, (I'm just guessing!) want to liquidate his position in BIIB in order to buy more shares of Yahoo, where his nuisance value is only beginning to manifest itself.
Now we can report that Icahn put forward a three-nominee slate in a contested election for four open board seats at the annual meeting held last week.
It isn't clear what the margin of defeat was. But it is now clear that all the Icahn-backed candidates were defeated.
The management candidates received an important assist from each of the major proxy advisory services. ISS Governance Services, part of RiskMetrics Group, said in its report that "the dissident has not met its burden of proving that board change is warranted at Idec. Absent a showing that the incumbent board has failed in some fashion, we find it difficult to support the removal of directors."
Said Glass Lewis: "Shareholders should support management's nominees. In our opinion the current board and executives have created substantial value for shareholders and we believe that the Company has solid growth opportunities as a stand-alone entity."
And to make it unanimous, Proxy Governance weighed in thus: "Given the track record of this board and its management team over the five years since Biogen and Idec merged, as well as significant performance targets to which the company has committed itself through 2010, we believe shareholders will be better served by re-electing the management slate of nominees."
The thing about Icahn is -- he keeps up with these things, and over time can simply wear opposition down. He may have something more to say about BIIB going forward, or he may sell his shares and move on to something else.
He might, for example, (I'm just guessing!) want to liquidate his position in BIIB in order to buy more shares of Yahoo, where his nuisance value is only beginning to manifest itself.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Three brief items
1. Biogen Idec Gets Some Support
Carl Icahn is waging a classic dissidents' campaign for three seats of the board of Biogen Idec, a biopharmaceutical concern.
Biogen is a Nasdaq-listed company HQed in Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge, moreover, is where the annual meeting will be held, this coming Thursday.
In recent days, the major proxy-advisory concerns have generally lined upin support of the incumbent board, though.
Riskmetrics: "The dissident has not met its burden of proving that board change is warranted at Biogen. Abesent a showing that the incumbent board has failed in some fashion, we find it difficult to support the removal of directors."
Glass Lewis: "In our opinion the current board and executives have created substantial value for shareholders and we believe that the Company has solid growth opportunities as a stand-alone entity."
2. Clumsy France Telecom ultimatum
Meanwhile overseas. On June 5, France Telecom rather brusquely informed a Swedish company, TeliaSonera, that they'd better commence "friendly" talks with regard to a takeover. Or else. The "or else what" part was left unspoken.
But the statement was sufficiently undiplomatic to create a backlash, and the Financial Times is reporting that there is a risk of "the type of nationalist backlash that scuppered Renault's attempts to buy Volvo in the 1990s. So France Telecom has now sensibly decided on a more softly-softly approach."
Softly-softly or otherwise, TeliaSonera is so far unswayed.
3. Who will feed the Clydesdales?
This is likely not the first place you've heard this, or the twentieth, but: a Brazilian-Belgian beer company, InBev, wants to buy Anheuser-Busch. It's offering US$46 billion [30 billion euros).
There are obvious economies-of-scale considerations in the brewing business which are said to have created the recent wave of consolidation. The larger brewing companies can cut the better deals for raw materials, and can economize on the distribution network as well. But I have to wonder if that fully explains recent developments.
Another random point: We always see some Busch family scion on the television commercials (when they aren't showing us their beautiful horses). But I wonder ... how much of the company does the family still own? I'll have to look into that in the days ahead.
At any rate, here some further discussion.
Carl Icahn is waging a classic dissidents' campaign for three seats of the board of Biogen Idec, a biopharmaceutical concern.
Biogen is a Nasdaq-listed company HQed in Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge, moreover, is where the annual meeting will be held, this coming Thursday.
In recent days, the major proxy-advisory concerns have generally lined upin support of the incumbent board, though.
Riskmetrics: "The dissident has not met its burden of proving that board change is warranted at Biogen. Abesent a showing that the incumbent board has failed in some fashion, we find it difficult to support the removal of directors."
Glass Lewis: "In our opinion the current board and executives have created substantial value for shareholders and we believe that the Company has solid growth opportunities as a stand-alone entity."
2. Clumsy France Telecom ultimatum
Meanwhile overseas. On June 5, France Telecom rather brusquely informed a Swedish company, TeliaSonera, that they'd better commence "friendly" talks with regard to a takeover. Or else. The "or else what" part was left unspoken.
But the statement was sufficiently undiplomatic to create a backlash, and the Financial Times is reporting that there is a risk of "the type of nationalist backlash that scuppered Renault's attempts to buy Volvo in the 1990s. So France Telecom has now sensibly decided on a more softly-softly approach."
Softly-softly or otherwise, TeliaSonera is so far unswayed.
3. Who will feed the Clydesdales?
This is likely not the first place you've heard this, or the twentieth, but: a Brazilian-Belgian beer company, InBev, wants to buy Anheuser-Busch. It's offering US$46 billion [30 billion euros).
There are obvious economies-of-scale considerations in the brewing business which are said to have created the recent wave of consolidation. The larger brewing companies can cut the better deals for raw materials, and can economize on the distribution network as well. But I have to wonder if that fully explains recent developments.
Another random point: We always see some Busch family scion on the television commercials (when they aren't showing us their beautiful horses). But I wonder ... how much of the company does the family still own? I'll have to look into that in the days ahead.
At any rate, here some further discussion.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Icahn and Biogen
Carl Icahn has written to the shareholders of biopharm company Biogen Idec, urging the election of three dissidents to that company's board at its next meeting.
His candidates are: Alexander J. Denner, Anne B. Young, and Richard C. Mulligan.
This isn't a fight with which I'm familiar, so I won't pontificate about it just now. I'm just marking my spot -- this is something to watch in the days ahead.
Also, there's a fascinating passage about Carl Icahn and his general modus operandi in Steve Miller's new book.
Miller styles himself "the turnaround kid." He has served as the CEO of many troubled and/or bankrupt companies, including Federal-Mogul, WMX, and Delphi. His discussion of Icahn occurs in the chapter describing his tenure at Federal-Mogul. Here's a bit of it.
"Icahn was uniquely creative in his demands. He was impatient with the board's decisions and would bully us to do things his way....He's effective, I think, because people become so traumatized that they wind up suffering from Stockholm syndrome and will do anything to please him."
No comment.
His candidates are: Alexander J. Denner, Anne B. Young, and Richard C. Mulligan.
This isn't a fight with which I'm familiar, so I won't pontificate about it just now. I'm just marking my spot -- this is something to watch in the days ahead.
Also, there's a fascinating passage about Carl Icahn and his general modus operandi in Steve Miller's new book.
Miller styles himself "the turnaround kid." He has served as the CEO of many troubled and/or bankrupt companies, including Federal-Mogul, WMX, and Delphi. His discussion of Icahn occurs in the chapter describing his tenure at Federal-Mogul. Here's a bit of it.
"Icahn was uniquely creative in his demands. He was impatient with the board's decisions and would bully us to do things his way....He's effective, I think, because people become so traumatized that they wind up suffering from Stockholm syndrome and will do anything to please him."
No comment.
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