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The Cambridge, Mass.-based company, which has been battling Icahn for two years, announced preliminary results of the board election from Wednesday's shortened annual meeting. In addition to Denner, the company confirmed Robert W. Pangia and William D. Young as winning election to its 13-member board, but it withheld the name of a fourth director until IVS Associates confirms the tabulations because the count was "too close to call," according to a statement. The Denner election marks Icahn's first successful attempt at gaining board representation since last year's failed effort to secure a seat for himself. The press release included a statement from Biogen Idec chairman Bruce R. Ross: "We welcome our new director to the board and look forward to working together to build on our strong track record of delivering value," Ross said. "While we await the outcome of the vote for the remaining director, we would like to express our gratitude for the support of our stockholders." Given the ongoing rankle between Icahn and the company, those words could be empty rhetoric. Icahn reportedly is interested in either renewing efforts to sell the company, which he tried unsuccessfully to have happen last year, or break it up, perhaps along the lines of its 2003 merger between Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen and San Diego-based Idec. Either way, either proposition could be a big blow to the state of Massachusetts, which, as The Deal magazine recently highlighted, has earmarked up to $1 billion to invest in its biotech industry. Over 10 years, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Fund plans to hand out $250 million in tax incentives to for-profit firms and $500 million for infrastructure projects. As The Deal magazine notes, two of the fund's purposes are:
Biogen Idec is the state's second-largest biotech company behind Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ:GENZ), which already has tapped into the state's fund as part of plans to build a facility in Framingham. With such a large pool of capital at its disposal, and its willingness to help biotechs, the state might look to work with Icahn to keep jobs in the Bay State. The question is, if the state is willing, would Icahn play ball? - Matthew Wurtzel See story about Massachusetts Life Sciences Fund from The Deal magazine
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With Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) confirming the appointment of Alexander Denner as a director, activist investor Carl Icahn finally has won at least one seat on the biotechnology company's board. 
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