Enzon Shareholders Steal the Show (ENZN)

Enzon Shareholders Steal the Show

On Tuesday, Enzon Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ENZN ) wanted to trumpet its first-ever data presentations at a major medical conference. Too bad an activist investor chose that same day to prod Enzon to consider more strategic alternatives.

Enzon announced earlier this month that it would split its development-stage biotech pipeline assets from its specialty-pharma marketed drugs, in hopes of realizing a fuller value for the company. The company joins other drugmakers, including PDL BioPharma (Nasdaq: PDLI ) and Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: NABI ) , which have recently spun off, potentially sold, or announced plans to spin off their different businesses.

Enzon's move to separate its myriad business lines followed calls from activist investors such as DellaCamera Capital Management and Carl Icahn for the company to better showcase its potentially undervalued assets. As DellaCamera made clear on Tuesday in a press release and 13D filing, it's displeased with Enzon's plan to spin off only its biotech business. DellaCamera thinks Enzon could better maximize its value by trimming its executives' salaries and shopping its assets to "strategic buyers."

DellaCamera currently holds 5.9% of all outstanding shares of Enzon. Assuming Icahn is on its side, shareholders controlling at least 12.7% of Enzon's shares will be agitating for more changes at the company. While activist investors like DellaCamera and Icahn don't always get their way, they can definitely make things interesting for a company. We'll soon see just how interesting things get for Enzon.

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Fool contributor Brian Lawler owns shares of PDL but no other company mentioned in this article. The Fool has an A+ disclosure policy.

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