3d advisory firm opposes Icahn plan for Biogen Idec

June 12, 2008

Another major shareholder advisory firm recommended stockholders reject billionaire investor Carl Icahn's slate of nominees to Biogen Idec Inc.'s board, reducing his odds of success. In its report, Proxy Governance Inc. said, "We find no evidence these nominees bring meaningful additional experience or ability to an already strong and cohesive board." Earlier this week, RiskMetrics Group, and Glass Lewis & Co. also recommended shareholders vote against Icahn's nominees. Icahn has nominated three directors to sit on Biogen Idec's 12-member board, which would give him a powerful perch to continue pressing the company to sell itself to a large pharmaceuticals company or for other changes that might raise its stock price. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the issue at the company annual meeting on June 19. (Todd Wallack)

One of NASCAR's most storied race teams gave up majority control when Boston-based private equity firm Boston Ventures took over Petty Enterprises. Although Richard Petty says he'll still have a large day-to-day role with the team his family has run since 1949, Boston Ventures now maintains control of the 60-year-old operation and the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Neither side would reveal the percentage of the organization that Boston Ventures now controls. (AP)

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it raised $60 million in its sixth round of private financing. Since its founding in 1993, the Cambridge biotechnology company has raised more than $200 million. The company is developing treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Merrimack's lead experimental drug, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, is in midstage clinical trials. (Todd Wallack)

Boston Scientific Corp. expects the drug-coated stent market to continue recovering, as it works to place its line of Taxus products at the front of a crowded, competitive field. Sales of drug-coated stents declined sharply over the last few years as research questioned their safety and effectiveness compared with older, bare-metal versions. More recent studies have shown the stents are both safe and effective - driving a slow sales recovery, according to several medical device executives. "The market hasn't gone away," said Boston Scientific chief executive Jim Tobin, speaking at Goldman Sachs' annual healthcare conference. "This is a market that is going to be robust in terms of patient flow for a long time." (AP)

Three former brokers at UBS AG and Merrill Lynch & Co., whose deceptive trades for a hedge fund contributed to $67.5 million in regulatory sanctions, agreed to be censured and barred from the industry. Christopher Chung, Kevin Brunnock, and William Savino helped Millennium Partners LP mask its identity while making rapid-fire trades from 2000 to 2003, the New York Stock Exchange's regulatory arm said. UBS paid $54 million in 2006 and Merrill paid $13.5 million in 2005 to settle NYSE and state regulatory claims they failed to supervise employees. (Bloomberg)

Federal health officials haven't yet traced the source of salmonella-tainted tomatoes but, amid an outcry from farmers, are clearing untainted crops as fast as possible. "We're getting very close" to identifying the outbreak's source, said Dr. David Acheson of the Food and Drug Administration. The outbreak, which has sickened 167 people in 17 states since April, is not over even though it has been two weeks since the last confirmed case, said Dr. Ian Williams of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (AP)

The chief executives of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. met with a member of the Federal Communications Commission to press for approval of their plan to combine the companies. Sirius's Mel Karmazin and XM's Nate Davis met Monday with Deborah Taylor Tate, one of the panel's Republican majority, according to a filing on the FCC website. Separately, Sirius disputed claims by a US senator that Karmazin may have misled Congress in testimony on the deal. The all-stock bid by Sirius for its larger rival needs majority approval of the five-member FCC to clear its last regulatory hurdle. The agency is under no deadline to act and has been reviewing the $3.7 billion deal since March 2007. FCC chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, said the agency may vote this month. (Bloomberg)