Wall Street handicaps Sanofi’s looming Genzyme bid

Let the bidding begin. Wall Street analysts have been engaged in some intense speculation on Sanofi's widely expected bid for Genzyme, with a basic agreement that the pharma company will get started at $68 to $70 a share while targeting a handshake over a mid-70s price. Sanofi will be doing its best to avoid paying more than the upper 70s, and is already hinting at a hostile takeover attempt--even before it's made a formal offer for the company. Citigroup's Mark Dainty and Yaron Werber say...

Icahn makes fresh inroads at Biogen and Genzyme

Anyone looking for a close-up look at what Genzyme's Henri Termeer was looking to avoid when he struck a deal to amicably seat two of Carl Icahn's representatives on the board need only look at yesterday's brief annual meeting at Biogen Idec. The Biogen board cheerfully welcomed a third ally of Icahn's during the meeting, which was conducted without James Mullen, who retired from his CEO's post on Tuesday. A year ago the Biogen meeting ended in turmoil, breaking up with no clear idea of...

Proxy truce puts two Icahn reps on Genzyme board

Carl Icahn will get two representatives on Genzyme's board as part of a new proxy peace pact he just signed with the big biotech's management. In exchange for withdrawing his lineup of four nominees, Icahn will throw his weight behind the company slate and Genzyme will appoint Steven Burakoff, M.D., and Eric Ende, M.D., to serve as directors immediately following its June 16 annual meeting of shareholders. Burakoff was one of Icahn's original four nominees. Ende, a participant in...

Troubled Genzyme launches probe into insider trading claims

With regulators negotiating a hefty fine for the issues that have plagued its Allston Landing plant, Carl Icahn at the gates demanding a top-level overhaul and patients in an uproar over continued shortages of its key product, Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) can now add one more problem to its list: stockholder allegations that executives at the Big Biotech company engaged in insider trading. In a filing with the SEC, Genzyme said it has named three independent directors to a special committee...

Icahn targets Termeer, three other Genzyme directors in fresh assault

Just as Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer was planning a lengthy sit-down with analysts to discuss the company's troubled manufacturing operations and his plans for the future, Wall Street raider Carl Icahn delivered a fresh broadside at the big biotech and made it crystal clear that he wants to oust Termeer from a post he's held for a quarter of a century. In a new proxy statement Icahn identified Termeer and three other directors on the 10-member Genzyme board that he is plotting to replace. And he...

Positive MS data may thwart Icahn’s plans for Genzyme

Follow-up data from a Phase II trial of Campath (alemtuzumab) for multiple sclerosis revealed that about 71 percent of patients remain free the disease for up to three years after receiving their last dose of the drug. The study compared Campath to the Merck KGaA's approved MS therapy Rebif in early, active, relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients who had received no prior therapy. Genzyme presented the positive data at the American Academy of Neurology annual...