Billionaire investor, Carl Icahn, has reiterated his offer to buy generics firm, Mylan Laboratories, for $20 per share.

He originally proposed to buy Mylan back in November last year [[22/11/04b]], in retaliation to the firm’s attempts to purchase King Pharmaceuticals for $4 billion, which Mr Icahn deemed an “egregious mistake” [[27/07/04d]]. The proposed King deal was terminated in February after the firms failed to agree on a revised transaction [[28/02/05b]], having been thrown into jeopardy with King’s restatement of its financial results [[29/10/04b]].

In a letter to the Mylan board of directors, Mr Icahn said that he remained “baffled” by the firm’s failure to engage in acquisition discussions, and repeated that he was available to discuss his $20 per share proposal. He noted that Mylan’s chief executive, Robert Coury, said in a March conference call that he “would not rule out… any opportunities,” adding that he was shocked that talks between him and the firm had still not taken place.

“We believe that Mylan’s management should let the shareholders decide whether they desire to accept $20 per share. It is incumbent on Mylan’s board to pursue our proposal and not continue to ignore an opportunity to provide shareholders with the benefits it would provide. We urge you to seize this opportunity for shareholders now, as we remain concerned that, under current management, Mylan will suffer additional deterioration in its business,” the letter stated, adding: “We are also concerned that rather than seeking an open sale process for Mylan, the board may once again pursue an ill-advised transaction that may have a negative impact on Mylan’s business and as a result make Mylan a less attractive acquisition candidate.”