Activist Sarissa Demands Special Meeting at Amarin to Hold Board Vote
Investor says firm is "dawdling" when it needs to halt share price slide
On Tuesday, Sarissa Capital Management, an activist investment firm focusing on the pharmaceutical sector, put pressure on Amarin (US:AMRN) to hold a special meeting to straighten out its board issues and halt a slide that's devoured two thirds of its value this year.
Sarissa argued that the stock lost more than 60% this year and vaporized $850 million in shareholder value.
"We, along with all shareholders, must try to fix the company," Sarissa implored investors in its Monday letter. It added that the stock's down 38% since Amarin's spring annual meeting, where about half of the shareholder votes for incumbent directors were "against" or "abstentions."
Sarissa is Amarin's largest shareholder and said it fears Amarin's imploding and would run out of cash and be forced to raise cash with a secondary offering that would dilute current shareholders.
"As we have heard from many shareholders, Amarin appears not to share our collective sense of urgency. Sarissa has discussed adding shareholder representatives to the board with the company for many months. Still, the board appears to be running a dawdling process that seems to ignore the critical period facing the company," Sarissa said.
"We cannot stand idly by," the activist fund said. "To turn the company around, we believe Sarissa representatives must be added to the board immediately. "
In a statement after Sarissa's barrage, Amarin's board responded that it is indeed moving along the board changes and is in the final stages of appointing new directors and that it's been forthright with Sarissa, its largest shareholder, about its plans.
Amarin said it is operating in good faith and interviewed several candidates for the board this year, including Sarissa's proposed nominees.
The board has interviewed several highly qualified candidates and is closing in on new appointments, though the process remains ongoing, Amarin's directors said.
Sarissa initially filed a 13D activist filing with the US Securities & Exchange Commission in January, reporting the same roughly 6% stake it owns today.