If financier Carl Icahn is looking for change of ownership at biotechnology giant Genzyme Corp., then he better prepare for a fight because CEO Henry Termeer is adamant his company is not for sale.
Termeer is refuting a Thursday Wall Street Journal report that his company may cave in to pressure from minority owner Carl Icahn to sell itself. Termeer feels the right course for his company is to stay independent. "It is much stronger as it is right now," Termeer said in reference to the Journal report.
Icahn currently holds a 1% stake in Genzyme and has a history of tangling with management at a number of biotech companies. Most recently, he pressured MedImmune to sell itself to AstraZeneca plc for $15.6 billion.
However, perhaps his most memorable activist campaign of late was at telecommunications equipment maker Motorola Inc. Despite success at MedImmune, Icahn faced a setback at Motorola, meaning there is hope for Termeer should Genzyme become Icahn's next target. — Gerald Magpily and Matthew Wurtzel