Biogen says no to Icahn's board candidates
Biogen Idec Inc. today rejected billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s proposed corporate directors, setting up a proxy fight over who sits on the Cambridge biotechnology company’s board of directors.
Biogen Idec spokeswoman Naomi Aoki said the current board interviewed Icahn’s three nominees, but decided they were unsuitable because they were committed to his “single-minded agenda to sell the company.” Aoki said such an agenda likely would hurt the company’s ability to attract talented employees and form partnerships with other companies.
The company schedules staggered elections for its 12-member board, so only four seats are up for election this year. But if Icahn succeeds in persuading shareholders to approve his nominations, it would give him a powerful platform to continue pushing for a sale of the company or to make other changes. It also could put him in position to win a majority of board seats next year, essentially giving him control of the company.
Icahn, who recently reported that he owned more than 4 percent of Biogen Idec shares, nominated one of his investment managers, Alexander J. Denner, along with two Harvard Medical School professors, Richard C. Mulligan and Dr. Anne B. Young.
But Biogen Idec said it decided to back three current board members -- Cecil Pickett, Lynn Schenk and company cofounder Phillip Sharp -- who are up for re-election. It also nominated Stelios Papadopoulos, a retired investment banker with Cowen & Co., to replace Thomas Keller, who reached the mandatory retirement age.
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)
