ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., revising its plan to split its business into three separate publicly traded companies, said Thursday it will sell 40% of its proposed ICN International to the public, twice the amount originally announced.
The Costa Mesa drug maker, under fire for not moving quickly enough on the restructuring plans, said it plans to sell the shares in the second quarter and hopes to have the stock listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange.
ICN said it was increasing the shares in the initial public offering to achieve greater liquidity.
Analysts generally shrugged off the announcement.
Tom DesChamps, an analyst with Mehta Partners in New York, said he will remain skeptical of ICN's commitment to restructuring until he sees "some real progress taking place," including pricing the shares of ICN International and another unit, Ribapharm Inc. Ribapharm would own the rights to ICN's top-selling product, the hepatitis drug ribavirin.
First Union Securities analyst Michael Tong said the revisions "didn't look like much," adding he continues to rate the stock at market perform.
