Your move, Ramius. The alternative investment firm and activist shareholder purchased a 12 percent stake in SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX) because it saw a clear opportunity to boost the stock and turn a nice profit. In its quest to name three people to the SurModics board, Ramius said it did not want to break up the company or replace the board. That may no longer be the case.
As the history of social legislation suggests -- and as this week's federal court ruling on the so-called individual mandate makes clear, the effects of healthcare reform on our politics may not be settled until a lot of President Obama's aides are collecting Medicare checks, according to the New York Times.
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
I guess SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX) just responded. Just a day after the company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, said it would formally respond to Ramius LLC's efforts to name three people to its board of directors, SurModics announced late Tuesday it had named a new CEO and would explore a sale of its pharmaceuticals business.
As proxy fights go, the battle for SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX), based in Eden Prairie, is downright tame -- for now. Last week, Ramius LLC, the alternative investment firm of Cowen & Co. that recently purchased a 12 percent stake in SurModics, named its three candidates to the board of directors. While Ramius strongly criticized SurModics' performance of late, the firm told shareholders it only seeks to "help," not usurp the board.
No shocker here, but Zacks Investment Research is not high on SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX), the device/drug company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Zacks this week lowered its rating on SurModics shares to "underperform" from "neutral." In other words, the research firm is telling investors to sell the stock "following its disappointing showing in the final quarter of 2010.
In the last year alone, SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX) opened a $41 million pharmaceutical plant, which is bleeding cash, fired its CEO, massively restructured its operations, and now is facing down a potentially nasty proxy fight with an aggressive outside investor.
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.