Enzon, under Pressure from Carl Icahn, Seeks Buyer

It looks like investor Carl Icahn may be having his way with Enzon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ENZN]]). The Piscataway, NJ, company announced today that it is seeking a buyer for some or all of the company, 19 days after Icahn signaled he wanted to talk to the  biotech about its operations.

Icahn, whose investment firm owns 13.3 percent of Enzon’s shares, said in an SEC filing on Nov. 28 that he had informed the company he wanted to discuss its operations, direction and plans to manage expenses. Enzon said in its press release this morning that it is suspending the development of its androgen receptor clinical program in order to conserve capital and maximize shareholder value. The company currently has a drug for breast and colorectal cancer in Phase II clinical trials.

Enzon chairman Alex Denner, who is also a senior managing partner at New York-based Icahn Enterprises, said in the press release that, “in addition to a strong balance sheet and royalty revenues, Enzon’s drug candidates and technologies offer the potential for a variety of transaction.” By midday Enzon’s share price had risen 5.25 percent to $4.81.

Icahn has been pressuring Enzon to streamline operations ever since he upped his holdings in the company in 2008. In 2010 CEO Jeffrey Buchalter resigned and was replaced by an executive committee of the board, headed by Denner. In September 2011 Enzon announced it would cut its workforce almost in half by this July, to 47 people.

The board of directors has hired Lazard as financial advisor for the sale.

Author: Catherine Arnst

Catherine Arnst is an award- winning writer and editor specializing in science and medicine. Catherine was Senior Writer for medicine at BusinessWeek for 13 years, where she wrote numerous cover stories and wrote extensively for the magazine’s website, including contributing to two blogs. She followed a broad range of issues affecting medicine and health and held primary responsibility for covering the battle in Washington over health care reform. Catherine has also written for the Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report and The Daily Beast, and was Director of Content Development for the health practice at Edelman Public Relations for two years. Prior to joining BusinessWeek she was the London-based European Science Correspondent for Reuters News Service. She won the 2004 Business Journalist of the Year award from London’s World Leadership Forum, and in 2003 was the first recipient of the ACE Reporter Award from the European School of Oncology for her five-year body of work on cancer. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University.