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ARTICLE | Finance

Gaining leverage

Reading the tea leaves of Icahn's Vivus debt play

September 14, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

Carl Icahn wants to buy up convertible notes of Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS), and if the debt holders agree to his terms the financier would gain a major bargaining chip with the obesity play. Vivus shareholders clearly like that Icahn has Vivus in his sights, as the stock jumped $0.58 (49%) to $1.77 last week on no other news.

"If you own the debt, you own the company," said Ladenburg Thalmann's Edwin Gordon. ...