Carl Icahn and the management at Biogen Idec have reached a gentleman's agreement aimed at resolving the latest tussle between the Big Biotech company and the fractious Wall Street raider. Biogen appointed one of the three people on Icahn's slate of nominees--Eric Rowinsky--to its board along with one of its own candidates to replace outgoing CEO Jim Mullen and Bruce Ross.
"I am pleased we were able to reach an agreement that is in stockholders' best interests," Icahn said in a statement. "The nominees who will replace Messrs. Mullen and Ross are extremely qualified and I believe will add great value to Biogen." Rowinsky is a board member at Adventrx and a recent EVP from ImClone, which Icahn snared and sold.
In exchange for the board seat Icahn pledged to vote his shares for the new board of directors proposed by Biogen Idec. Stephen Sherwin will also join the board, which will include Nancy Leaming and Brian Posner, who was one of Icahn's dissident directors in the 2008 scrap with Yahoo.
- check out the release
- here's the Dow Jones report