Reuters: Deals: Icahn lashes Amylin board, urges sale of company

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Icahn lashes Amylin board, urges sale of company Apr 4th 2012, 12:58 Wed Apr 4, 2012 8:58am EDT (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn lashed out at the board of Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMLN.O) 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 (BMY.N) 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.

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