Carl Icahn Still Active in BioHealth Stocks (ANX, FOLD, AMLN, BIIB, CYBX, EMIS, ENZN, REGN, TELK)
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn showed his biotech and medical holdings yesterday, with the ownership filing date as of June 30, 2008. Here is a snapshot of his filed holdings:
- Adventrx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMEX: ANX)3.459 million shares, small position for Icahn
- Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOLD) 201,940 shares, small stake and small interest
- Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) 6.787 million shares
- Applera Corp
- Biogen-Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) 9.948 million shares, which has actually been added to since that date
- Cyberonics (NASDAQ: CYBX) 2.008 million shares
- Emisphere Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: EMIS) 86,430 shares, tiny position for Icahn
- Enzon Pharma (NASDAQ: ENZN) 2.457 million shares
- Regeneron Pharma (NASDAQ: REGN) 2.508 million shares
- Telik Inc. (NASDAQ: TELK) 4.156 million shares
Jon C. Ogg
August 15, 2008
Enzon Gets Activist Pressure (ENZN)
Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN) is feeling some pressure from an activist investor today. DellaCamera Capital Management, LLC, a 5.9% beneficial stakeholder of Enzon common stock, noted that Enzon needs to show much more concrete and immediate action from the Company to increase value.
DellaCamera said it was please to see on May 7 that Enzon had announced a plan to spin-off its biotechnology business, but the group wants Enzon to take the next logical step by exploring all strategic alternatives for the remaining commercial operations (marketed products, royalties, and manufacturing businesses), including the sale of the commercial operations as a whole. The group also wants Enzon to engage its adviser Goldman Sachs or another investment banking firm to assist in the full review and exploration of unlocking that value.
As far as the rest of the details it outlines, you can see the activist filing here. That will also show you the shares and call options that DellaCamera collectively owns.
Enzon’s market cap is nearly $400 million after a 2% gain to $8.93 today; and its 52-week trading range is $6.31 to $10.36.
On last look it had $258 million in liquid cash, equivalents, and long-term investments. It also had some $383 million in total liabilities.
Forcing companies under an activist pressure can work in many cases, but in stretched biotech companies it can be rather difficult to force the water back upstream.
Jon Ogg