* Icahn threatens proxy battle if board refuses sale
* Criticizes board for approving public offering of stock
* Amylin shares closed at $24.10 on Tuesday
April 4 (Reuters) – Activist investor Carl Icahn lashed out
at the board of Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc on
Wednesday, urging it to put the company up for sale and
threatening a proxy fight.
Icahn, the company’s third-largest shareholder with an 8.9
percent stake, criticized Amylin for failing to confirm or deny
media reports that it had rejected a takeover offer from
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co of $22 a share, or $3.5 billion.
Bristol has also declined to comment on the reports.
In an open letter to Amylin, Icahn also criticized the board
for approving a public offering of 10 percent of the company at
an assumed price of $15.62 a share on March 8, without
disclosing any Bristol offer in the registration statement, and
for granting options to the company’s executive officers with an
exercise price of $16.02 a share on March 6.
“These actions make absolutely no sense to me in light of a
Bristol-Myers bid and have served to substantially dilute
shareholders who owned the stock when these actions were taken,”
Icahn wrote.
A spokeswoman for Amylin did not immediately respond to a
request for comment on Wednesday.
Icahn said a proxy contest right now would be a costly
distraction, “but I would not shy away from that possibility if
I felt that the Board was not pursuing seriously the opportunity
to sell the company.”
Amylin shares closed at $24.70 Tuesday on Nasdaq.
