ICN to Meet With Analysts and Investors

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. will meet with analysts and investors Thursday as speculation the company will sell or spin off some units has boosted its share price about 34% since the end of April.

The Costa Mesa drug maker said in February that it hired investment banker Warburg Dillon Read to explore options to boost its stock price, including the sale of some units.

ICN has said it’s looking at “all options” for two businesses: its Eastern European drug unit and its biomedicals group, which sells radiation badges, diagnostic products and chemicals.

While ICN executives have declined to comment on the status of their review of those businesses, the company’s shares have soared since last month amid hopes ICN will sell or spin off at least part of its Eastern European operations.

“Eastern Europe has certainly been a major distraction. They have to deal with that,” said Viren Mehta, a drug-industry analyst with Mehta Partners who has advised clients in the past few months to buy ICN shares.

The company is under pressure either to announce a transaction at the meeting or to provide proof that it is making progress in doing something about its Eastern European operations, analysts and investors said.

“The market will be disappointed if they don’t have some tangible evidence of their recent efforts,” Mehta said.

Company officials declined to comment on whether they’re about to deliver on such expectations.