ARTICLE | Company News
Sarissa seeks ouster of Ariad CEO
February 21, 2015 1:42 AM UTC
Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) rose $0.78 (11%) to $8.05 on Friday after Sarissa Capital Management, the firm led by activist investor Alexander Denner, launched a proxy contest to oust CEO Harvey Berger. Sarissa has a 6.9% stake in Ariad.
The hedge fund said in an SEC filing that talks with Ariad's board to force Berger's "imminent retirement" had come to an impasse and that it would seek to elect two new members to the board. Sarissa intends to nominate Richard Mulligan, a Sarissa founding partner, and Anna Protopapas, a former president of the Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502), to unseat Berger and independent director Wayne Wilson at the company's annual meeting. ...