NEW YORK (AP) – Carl Icahn is suing Forest Laboratories Inc., demanding that the drugmaker turn over information about its plan for choosing a successor to Chairman and CEO Howard Solomon.
The billionaire investor said shareholders are entitled to know who could replace Solomon, who is 83 and has been Forest’s CEO since 1977 and chairman since 1998. In a letter to the company, Icahn said Forest asked if Forest plans to have Howard Solomon’s son David succeed him.
David Solomon is the company’s head of development and strategic planning. He has worked at Forest since 2001 and became a senior executive in January 2011.
With a 9.9% stake in Forest, Icahn is the company’s second-largest shareholder. In May, he nominated four directors to its board and requested corporate records related to the responsibilities held by Howard and David Solomon, the company’s profit guidance, and licensing agreements for some of Forest’s products.
Icahn also nominated a slate of four directors in 2011, but shareholders rejected them and elected the candidates supported by Forest.
Forest said in a statement Friday that it has been open about its executive succession plans, including naming David Solomon as a senior executive. It said it has hired an executive search firm and is actively planning a CEO succession. But it said announcing a successor to Howard Solomon now “would be both inappropriate and unusual.”
Date: June 29, 2012
Source: Associated Press