Amylin (AMLN) Shareholders Want Change - NOW!

Amylin Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMLN) has investors all fired-up and not in a good way. Just a few days after 8.3% shareholder Carl Icahn announced that he is nominating a slate of 5 Directors, 12.5% holder Eastbourne Capital is introducing their own, separate slate of 5 Directors.

To make matters worse for Amylin management, Eastbourne acknowledged Icahn's slate, but said it does not believe that these separate efforts to bring change to Amylin are in competition with each other. In other words, vote for ours or vote for theirs, either way we want change - NOW!

Our own Lon Juricic commented on the Icahn news for Barrons.com tonight. Lon said that Ichan's involvement with Amylin looks poised to be a repeat of his success at ImClone, which was sold to Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) for $70 per share, after a bidding war with Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY). Lon told Barron's, "Icahn kept building his position and eventually became chairman of the board, where he could push his agenda and positioned ImClone for a graceful sale... I could see this as the same situation playing out"

Ultimately, the shareholder activism at Amylin should be good news for investors.

Icahn Boosts Stake In Amylin (AMLN), Look For a Future Sale

It's been a while since we posted here. Due to the credit crisis we've been super busy at the main StreetInsider.com site. In addition, there haven't been too many 13Ds worth mentioning. We are going to start posting frequently again.

Today, there was an interesting filing from one of our favorites Carl Icahn on Amylin Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMLN). He's been a holder there for a long time, but now he is seeking to get a slate of 5 on the Board of Directors. We have a great article over at StreetInsider.com for premium members, discussing how "Like ImClone, Ichan Will Get Amylin Sold."

Icahn Has A Happy Day, Racks Up Gains of At Least $350M

Activist investor Carl Icahn is having a nice day today. Here's why:

1. Bristol -Myers (NYSE: BMY) sent Mr. Icahn a letter presenting a $60 per share offer for ImClone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL). Icahn is the Chairman of ImClone, and owns 11,669,544 shares of the biotech company. With shares of ImClone trading up to 37%, to $63.84 today, Icahn made a cool $200+ million just today in the stock. Icahn's cost basis on ImClone is about $33 per share, suggesting Icahn could make a 100% profit on his trade if ImClone is sold for around $66 per share. If the company is sold for $60, that's still a 80% profit.

2. Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a stock Carl has been involved with for a long time, is up 12% after topping Q2 estimates and providing guidance above the Street. Carl is up about $126 million in MOT today, although he is still underwater in the stock.

3. Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: AMLN), a stock Carl has been invloved with and has pushed to put itself up for sale, is up 11% today on speculation it could be the next biotech takeover target following the ImClone news. Carl is up about $22 million today on the trade.

Icahn Boosts Stake in Amylin Pharma (AMLN) to 6.5%, Seeks Additional Talks

In a 13D filing on Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN), Carl Icahn disclosed he raised his stake in the company to 6.54% (8,959,919 shares), this is up from the 6,339,653 share stake Icahn showed in a recent 13F for the quarter ended March 31, 2008.

Icahn disclosed they he recently had discussions with the company's management and intend to seek to have further conversations with management and members of the board of directors to discuss ideas that may have to maximize product sales and development and to enhance shareholder value.

Icahn said he reserve the right to take whatever future action they deem appropriate regarding the company and its securities under the circumstances as they then exist.