Icahn: Biogen could still be sold

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said Tuesday he still believes Biogen Idec Inc. could be sold.

Icahn, who owned 4 percent of Biogen Idec shares as of September, helped push the Cambridge biotechnology company to put itself up for sale in October, sending the stock soaring. But shares cratered after Biogen Idec announced last December that it didn't receive a single serious offer and planned to remain independent.

Even so, Icahn told CNBC: "I still have belief that it is a great company and that somebody will buy them. We are still looking at that and are still in contact on that."

Biogen Idec's stock is currently worth more than $17 billion, though a buyer would likely have to offer a significant premium to persuade the company's board and shareholders to agree to a deal.

Last week, Biogen Idec Chief Executive Jim Mullen told the Boston Globe that he thought large drug makers, who could potentially have bought Biogen Idec, decided against making a solid offer last year because they thought the acquisition was too risky. Mullen noted that large pharmaceutical companies tend to be more risk adverse than biotech companies, like Biogen Idec and Cambridge neighbor Genzyme Corp.
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)