Icahn Gets Visx Stake, Urges Sale of Company

Financier Carl Icahn indirectly acquired a 9.95% stake in Visx Inc. and suggested to the company’s president that the Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of excimer lasers put itself up for sale. Icahn affiliates spent $141.9 million to purchase 6.02 million Visx common shares, according to a Schedule 13D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That works out to $23.57 a share. Visx shares rose $2.63 to close at $23 on the NYSE. The shares have fallen 56% so far this year, and Icahn said in the SEC filing that the shares are undervalued. He also said he might acquire more shares if Visx will raise the limits set under its anti-takeover defenses. Icahn also said in the filing that he spoke with Elizabeth Davila, president of Visx. Icahn told Davila that the company should sell itself to a larger company to “more effectively compete with the better capitalized and broader-based companies in its field,” according to the filing.