Vote the Blue Card “FOR” the appointment of
the Sarissa Nominees to the Board
Vote the Blue Card “FOR” the Removal of
Chairman Per Wold-Olsen from the Board
Sarissa Capital Management LP (“Sarissa”) today issued the
following letter to fellow shareholders of Amarin Corporation plc
(NASDAQ: AMRN):
Dear Fellow Amarin Shareholders:
Amarin shareholders face an important decision at our upcoming
shareholder meeting. Amarin has an incredibly valuable asset in
Vascepa/Vazkepa, a drug that can meaningfully reduce cardiovascular
events in patients and save significant resources for health
systems worldwide. The value of Vascepa, however, has been wasted
by the company due to mismanagement and poor capital allocation
decisions.
In 2022 alone, Amarin’s stock declined
over 64%, wiping out more than $840 million of shareholder
value.*
Sarissa is one of the largest shareholders at Amarin because we,
like you, believe in Vascepa and its potential. Sarissa has a track
record of creating significant shareholder value in healthcare
companies, including in the cardiovascular space with The Medicines
Company. Perplexingly, the company refuses to add us to the board
even though the company acknowledges that change is necessary.
We are seeking to remake the board by removing Chairman Per
Wold-Olsen and adding shareholder representatives who we believe
will help maximize shareholder value. Our slate, including Sarissa
candidates that helped turn around The Medicines Company until its
ultimate sale for nearly $10 billion, has the qualifications and
the experience to help guide Amarin through this critical period.
Most importantly, our candidates will work collaboratively with the
company to ensure that Amarin is run for the benefit of
shareholders.
VOTE THE BLUE CARD “FOR” THE ELECTION OF THE SARISSA NOMINEES
AND “FOR” THE REMOVAL OF CHAIRMAN PER WOLD-OLSEN BEFORE THE
DEADLINE TO VOTE – 10:00 A.M. NEW YORK TIME ON FEBRUARY 22, 2023.
INTERNET AND TELEPHONE VOTING MUST BE
COMPLETED NO LATER THAN 11:59 PM NEW YORK TIME ON FEBRUARY 21,
2023.
Under the current regime, Amarin’s mismanagement has led to
tremendous destruction of shareholder value.
- In 2022, Amarin’s stock price declined over 64%, wiping out
more than $840 million of shareholder value.*
- In June 2022, Amarin was 6 months late to announce cost cuts in
the US despite the market disruption by the expected entrant of a
third generic. The result was an immense but avoidable destruction
of shareholder capital.
- Almost two years after Vazkepa was approved in Europe,
investors still have little visibility into future European
revenues.
- Management could not obtain approval in Germany for Vazkepa
reimbursement even though Germany could save a significant portion
of the >€28 billion that it spends annually on cardiovascular
disease with the use of Vazkepa.†
- Investors just learned from a recent slide presentation that
the launch in France, another key market, may be delayed until
2024, approximately 3 years after European
approval.
- In 2022, the company promised to launch in up to “six key
European markets” (only launched in five, of which only one is a
major market, namely the UK) and obtain pricing and reimbursement
in up to eight European markets (only secured 5, of which only 3
were national reimbursements).
Despite these blunders, Amarin has the audacity to state
publicly, “the Company made solid progress in 2022, against its
strategic objectives.”
VOTE THE BLUE CARD “FOR” THE ELECTION OF THE SARISSA NOMINEES
AND “FOR” THE REMOVAL OF CHAIRMAN PER WOLD-OLSEN BEFORE THE
DEADLINE TO VOTE – 10:00 A.M. NEW YORK TIME ON FEBRUARY 22, 2023.
INTERNET AND TELEPHONE VOTING MUST BE
COMPLETED NO LATER THAN 11:59 PM NEW YORK TIME ON FEBRUARY 21,
2023.
We believe Chairman Per Wold-Olsen is a significant source of
Amarin’s problems and has guided the board to be hostile to
shareholders.
We first approached the company in March 2022 and shortly
thereafter expressed a desire for board representation. In our
discussions, we explained to Chairman Wold-Olsen and others how our
efforts at The Medicines Company, another cardiovascular disease
company, led to a resounding success for shareholders, and how
lessons from our experience are very relevant to Amarin.
Chairman Wold-Olsen indicated that we should participate in the
board’s ongoing “board refreshment process” if we sought board
representation. Notably, our input was never
sought at any point in this ongoing “board refreshment process”
despite our being one of the largest owners of the business and our
track record of creating shareholder value through board
representation, including in the cardiovascular space. We
gave the board the benefit of the doubt and did not run a slate at
last year’s annual meeting of shareholders. We simply announced
that we would abstain from voting at the meeting while we continued
to discuss board representation with the company.
The outcome of that annual meeting was remarkable. Without any
public solicitation against the board at all, nearly 50% of all
votes cast were either votes against the Amarin board or
abstentions. We hoped that this loud and clear referendum of
shareholders, the owners of the company, would require the company
to add shareholder representatives to the board.
Our subsequent participation in the “board refreshment process”
was sobering. Even though we are one of the largest shareholders
with deep expertise, Chairman Wold-Olsen did not offer an honest
path to board representation but instead ran a dawdling process
that rejected the benefits of shareholder oversight.
Ultimately, after a >15-week “process”, Chairman Wold-Olsen
informed Sarissa that the board would not add ANY Sarissa
representatives and that they did not view our experience or
perspectives as worthy of board representation. We believe the
following red flags pertaining to Chairman Wold-Olsen were
uncovered during this purported “process”:
- Chairman Wold-Olsen was running a board refreshment process
that was not legitimate. He obstructs shareholder representation
and oversight on the board. Other directors even told us that our
candidacy was “up to Per,” who was not even a member of Amarin’s
nomination and governance committee.
- Chairman Wold-Olsen was an apologist for CEO Karim Mikhail and
was not a proponent of accountability to shareholders. Despite the
significant decline in Amarin’s stock value, Per told us that Karim
should be applauded for his efforts.
- Chairman Wold-Olsen stated that we should not have been
surprised that Amarin failed to reach an agreement on price with
Germany, even though Karim had previously emphasized the importance
of Germany to the European launch, expressed optimism on Germany,
and spent significant shareholder money fielding 150 sales
representatives in the country.
- Chairman Wold-Olsen astonishingly shared his view that only a
shareholder who owned >20% of a company potentially should be
offered ONE board seat.
- Chairman Wold-Olsen dismissed the overwhelming shareholder
referendum against the board at last year’s annual meeting of
shareholders as only the vote of a “retail” shareholder base.
“Retail” shareholders are owners of Amarin and are entitled to have
their voices heard.
- Through advisors, Chairman Wold-Olsen has recently asked to
interview two of Sarissa’s nominees due to the “profile” or
“experience” of those candidates. Sarissa agrees that its nominees
are excellent and would be great additions to the Amarin board, but
it is astounding that Per and the Amarin board are adamant to
keep Sarissa principals and other shareholders out of the
boardroom.
We believe Chairman Wold-Olsen does not want shareholders on the
board who will hold management accountable for their missteps.
Per’s continuing rejection of shareholder
representation raises many questions about Per and the Amarin
board, particularly after a vote of no confidence by shareholders
at last year’s annual meeting. How can Amarin conduct a
prolonged board refreshment process and not seek the input of one
of its largest shareholders? How can shareholder perspectives not
be beneficial to the board? What are they trying to hide? These
questions remain alarmingly unresolved.
VOTE THE BLUE CARD “FOR” THE ELECTION OF THE SARISSA NOMINEES
AND “FOR” THE REMOVAL OF CHAIRMAN PER WOLD-OLSEN BEFORE THE
DEADLINE TO VOTE – 10:00 A.M. NEW YORK TIME ON FEBRUARY 22, 2023.
INTERNET AND TELEPHONE VOTING MUST BE
COMPLETED NO LATER THAN 11:59 PM NEW YORK TIME ON FEBRUARY 21,
2023.
We believe Amarin is attempting to thwart shareholders from
voting at the upcoming General Meeting, but Sarissa remains
undeterred in its support of shareholder interests.
- Amarin disclosed that preventing one of its largest shareholder
from obtaining representation on the board is so important that it
has already wasted more than $4 MILLION of the company’s precious
capital and is planning to waste over $7 MILLION in total of
shareholder money to keep us off the board.
- Amarin’s board set the record date for voting at the General
Meeting but failed to timely disclose that record date publicly. On
January 27, 2023, Amarin informed shareholders that they had
previously established the record date of January 23, 2023. We
believe the board informed shareholders of the record date weeks
after they had established it in order for shareholders to have
difficulty voting their shares.
- Amarin decided that if shareholders vote to keep Chairman
Wold-Olsen on the board and all 7 of our candidates are elected,
then the last candidate on our alphabetically sorted list would not
be seated due to lack of vacancies. We pressed Amarin that the
selection of directors should be determined thoughtfully by
shareholders (i.e., the candidate with the lowest vote total should
not be seated) and not by the arbitrary order of candidates’ last
names. The Amarin board rejected our approach and revealed the
arbitrariness of their decision-making processes.
- Amarin shortened the solicitation period, making it difficult
to have all votes counted. Although the meeting date is February
28, 2023, Amarin’s board decided that votes must be received no
later than 10:00 a.m. New York time on February 22, 2023 (and in
fact, internet and telephone voting must be completed no later than
11:59 p.m. New York time on February 21, 2023). The
company refuses to rectify its shareholders engagement issues (up
to 50% of the shareholder votes were not counted at the last
meeting). We believe the company is attempting to shorten the proxy
period, hoping votes of frustrated shareholders are not
counted.
In our opinion, Amarin will never see its true potential under
the current regime and with Per Wold-Olsen as chairman.
We urge all shareholders to stand up for change and vote the
BLUE card “FOR” the election of the Sarissa Nominees and “FOR” the
removal of Chairman Per Wold-Olsen prior to the deadline of
10:00 a.m. New York time on February 22, 2023.
INTERNET AND TELEPHONE VOTING MUST BE
COMPLETED NO LATER THAN 11:59 PM NEW YORK TIME ON FEBRUARY 21,
2023.
We look forward to continuing our engagement with our
shareholders in the coming weeks. Thank you for your continued
support.
Sarissa Capital Management LP
* Calculated from end of day 12/31/2021 to 12/30/2022. Source:
Bloomberg † European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics 2017
edition
If you have any questions regarding your BLUE proxy card or need
assistance in executing your proxy card, please contact:
D.F. King & Co., Inc. Shareholders call Toll-Free:
(800) 331-7024 All Others Call: (212) 269-5550 Email:
AMRN@dfking.com #FreeAmarin
Additional Information
Sarissa Capital Management LP (“Sarissa Capital”), together with
other participants, filed a definitive proxy statement and an
accompanying blue proxy card with the SEC on January 31, 2023, in
connection with the solicitation of shareholders of Amarin
Corporation plc (the “Company”) at the general meeting of the
Company for the election of Sarissa Capital’s slate of
highly-qualified nominees (the “General Meeting”). Shareholders are
advised to read the definitive proxy statement and other relevant
documents related to the General Meeting as they contain important
information.
The definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents are
available at no charge on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The
definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents are also
available at no charge by directing a request to Sarissa Capital’s
proxy solicitor, D.F. King & Co., Inc., 48 Wall Street, New
York, New York 10005 (Shareholders can call toll-free: (800)
331-7024).
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230201005965/en/
Jean Puong Sarissa Capital Management LP info@sarissacap.com
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