Icahn, Affiliate Again Propose to Buy Mylan Laboratories for $20 a Share

Financier Carl Icahn and his High River affiliate Wednesday said they were again proposing to acquire generic drug maker Mylan Laboratories Inc. for $20 a share, or more than $5 billion.

Icahn originally proposed to acquire Mylan in November, when he said Mylan’s offer to buy King Pharmaceuticals Inc. was an “egregious mistake.”

His offer was seen at the time as an effort to trigger an auction of Canonsburg, Pa.-based Mylan, in which he had taken a sizable stake.

In February, Mylan terminated its $4-billion agreement to buy King Pharmaceuticals, saying the companies couldn’t agree on a revised deal.

The deal was put into jeopardy after King said it would restate earnings. The pact also faced increasing opposition from some of Mylan’s shareholders, including Icahn, who believed the company was paying too much for King.

On Tuesday, Icahn dropped a lawsuit against rival Richard Perry, whose Perry Corp. had supported Mylan’s merger attempt with King.

Icahn said Wednesday that he wanted Mylan’s management to let shareholders decide whether to accept the $20-a-share offer.

Mylan declined to comment.

Mylan shares rose 74 cents to $17.24.

Icahn said Mylan had failed to discuss his proposal, even though he could contribute, with affiliates, $1.5 billion of the necessary equity. Icahn said he would be able to obtain additional financing.

Icahn has become a billionaire acquiring big stakes in companies and forcing changes to drive up share prices. In the 1980s, he made hundreds of millions of dollars buying up stocks of companies such as Texaco Inc., although he stumbled in taking control of airline TWA, which ended up under bankruptcy protection.

In the 1990s, Icahn took on RJR Nabisco, scoring big profit once again. More recently, he has successfully pressured energy and chemical company Kerr-McGee Corp. to buy back stock and challenged management at Temple-Inland Inc. and Mylan.