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 repeated earlier statements that the company's manufacturing system is broken and badly in need of repair.
Two of Icahn's hand-picked challengers have drawn a challenge from Genzyme officials. Alexander Denner and Richard Mulligan, Genzyme says, sit on the Biogen Idec board, another big biotech company that could have more than a passing interest in Genzyme's trade secrets. Icahn largely shrugs that challenge off in his new proxy statement.
Also on Icahn's hit list: Former U.S. Senator Connie Mack; ex-Freddie Mac chief Richard F. Syron and MIT professor Charles Cooney.
- here's a link to the proxy statement
- here's the story from The New York Times