Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

[dogn]

Ropes & Gray LLP is a separate law firm from the other… there are 2 involved, 2 that have partnered on 2 $1.5B M&A deals I saw just last year (see my prior post).

https://www.ropesgray.com/en/newsroom/rankings-awards/2022/11/ropes-gray-named-the-american-lawyers-law-firm-of-the-year-honored-for-life-sciences-and-health-care

I think you are likely correct that behind the scenes different parties may favor different potential, eventual BP suitors (Pfizer who sells Vascepa in Canada, Novartis to whom Denner orchestrated sale of The Medicines Company, Merck where PWO and KM once worked, Bristol Myers Squib where Deepak Bhatt recently joined board, etc.). We don’t know 1% of all the jockeying going on. Each has different timelines, price targets, trigger milestones to first meet.

It interested me recently to see Denner’s mentor Carl Icahn 5 years ago took an undisclosed stake in BMY https://www.wsj.com/articles/carl-icahn-takes-stake-in-bristol-myers-squibb-1487710151, with speculation then that they may be sold to Pfizer, Gilead Sciences (where POW was then on the board), Novartis AG or Roche. https://www.biospace.com/article/serial-investor-b-carl-icahn-b-takes-stake-in-bristol-myers-squibb-stock-jumps-/

Gilead didn’t buy BMY - is this connected to Denner’s disdain for POW… all baseless speculation on my part, but I have to believe there are such things at play.

This fight may be more about which BP gets the prize that is Vascepa and at which price than how soon AMRN ends playing the game “it’s GIA (until it’s not).”

AMRN may be forced to disclose what non-GIA plans they are entertaining while pretending it’s GIA or bust if they hope to win a proxy battle. Nobody wants to show their cards, but how else can they convince shareholders their preferred suitor provides a greater return.

Otherwise, settle with Denner winning some board representation, and likely POW stepping down, before it gets to that. Because with the overwhelming support voiced here for Sarissa, it seems they have much more to lose if they enter the ring. It would seem if there are well evaluated reasons to believe one path is more lucrative, all parties should openly listen to each other’s ideas. Unfortunately it probably comes down to greed as in one’s path is more lucrative to said party than to the other.

It’s very hard to discount the arguments that current management wants the path that keeps feeding them free shares. They could counter that by enacting different performance-based compensation policies.

dogn