Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to meet with members of activist hedge fund Dellacamera Capital Master Fund Ltd. on Jan. 30. How well that meeting goes will likely determine whether the future life of the business -- at least the future envisioned by its CEO, Jeffrey Buchalter -- is threatened.
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The New York-based firm launched a proxy contest to nominate three director candidates to the board of the Bridgewater, N.J.-based pharmaceutical company and the possible sale of select assets, according to a Jan. 11 letter the activist fund attached to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Jan. 14. Dellacamera claimed in the letter that its nominees, John Geltosky, David Tendler and David Gale, have experience in pharmaceuticals, biochemistry or business investment operations.
"These candidates would strengthen the quality of the entire Board and are committed to acting solely in the best interests of all Enzon shareholders," Dellacamera wrote in the SEC filing.
In addition to adding board members, Dellacamera, a 5.3% Enzon Pharmaceuticals shareholder, wants to see the company consider selling its Abelcet anti-fungal product line and think about ways to "unlock the value" of its LNA development platform, according to a Dec. 19 filing.
Enzon has a $384 million stock market capitalization. - Ron Orol
See Schedule 13D filing from SEC Edgar
Ron Orol is a Washington-based reporter for The Deal and author of Extreme Value Hedging: How Activist Hedge Fund Managers Are Taking on the World.
Comments
I bought ENZN because the company seemed to have a number of "fat" products in development with what I perceived to be lucrrative upsides. The recent power play by Dellacamera would seem to have more behind it than short term gains from the sale of an existing product line. The value of ENZN is in it's pipeline. Anybody agree?