ICN, Ribapharm Take Slugfest to Court

A falling-out of onetime friends that became enemies in a hostile takeover contest set the stage for another possible judicial showdown on the poison pill. The contestants are ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its 80% owned affiliate Ribapharm Inc., which rejected an ICN bid to buy the publicly traded minority interest and installed a pill to thwart the offer. The rights plan would kick in if anybody acquired 89.9% of Ribapharm, which has rejected ICN’s offer of $5.60 a share as inadequate. ICN sued in Delaware Chancery Court to nullify the pill but the court rejected its motion for a speedy hearing, which means that the case would not be considered until September. The bidder, among other things, argued that the pill was not necessary because a majority of the 20% minority interest must accept the bid for the offer to succeed. In another judicial developments, Oracle Corp. sued PeopleSoft Inc. to prevent that company’s pill from interfering with Oracle’s hostile bid for the company. Also installing pills in June were: eXegenics Inc., Extended Systems Corp., Mobility Electronics Inc., and On Assignment Inc. Copyright 2003 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com