Ramius Still Wants Cypress Bio

It took a week, but Ramius Value and Opportunity Advisors responded today to what it calls the “abrupt resignation” of independent director Jean-Pierre Millon from the board at San Diego’s Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYPB]]). The subsidiary of New York’s multi-billion-dollar Ramius group says it’s still committed to its $160-million buyout offer for Cypress, says it’s willing to negotiate, and asks the newly appointed lead independent director, Daniel Petree, for a meeting with any or all of San Diego biotech’s independent directors. In a letter to Petree, Ramius Partner Managing Director Jeffrey C. Smith says that Millon’s resignation “at best…demonstrates an unhealthy board environment,” and “at worst, it is symptomatic of a truly dysfunctional board that continues to act without regard to the best interests of shareholders.” Cypress has steadfastly rejected Ramius’ overtures.

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.