Proxy Firm Backs Dissident ICN Directors

In a blow to the board of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., an influential proxy advisory firm that had backed insurgent director nominees last year once again recommended that its clients vote for a slate of dissident candidates in a shareholder vote Wednesday.

Institutional Shareholder Services is backing three independent candidates nominated by Franklin Mutual Advisors and Iridian Asset Management.

The two investors groups together hold more than 10% of the Costa Mesa drug maker’s stock and are trying to wrest control from Milan Panic, the chairman and chief executive who founded the company 42 years ago. Three other outside directors elected last year in a previous proxy battle have pledged to support the new slate on a nine-member board.

ICN contends that the threatened change of control and the almost certain departure of Panic would be disruptive, setting back expansion plans and weighing further on the stock price.

ICN stock lost 38 cents to close at $27.31 a share on the NYSE.