Actelion shakes up board in a bid to appease Elliott
ACTELION, Europe’s largest biotech company, changed its management structure and appointed a chief operating officer yesterday in a move that answered demands from its activist investor Elliott Advisors.
Actelion promoted its head of business strategy and operations Otto Schwarz to COO, allowing chief executive Jean-Paul Clozel to focus more on strategic matters.
The company saw off a challenge from hedge fund Elliott at its annual meeting last month, but analysts said the top-level changes were a sign it was reacting to shareholder pressure.
Elliott, Actelion’s largest shareholder, had urged the Swiss biotech group to consider seeking a buyer after a string of product setbacks and accused it of pursuing a high-risk strategy that hurt shareholder value.
Elliott also called on Clozel – a former Roche scientist who founded Actelion in 1997 – to step down from the board on governance grounds, arguing he had too many top managers reporting directly to him.