Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Soars After Sarissa Capital Discloses Stake

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Sarissa Capital believes that the shares of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals are undervalued

The shares of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals surged after Sarissa Capital Management disclosed its stake in the company. The stock was trading at $25.70 per share, up by more than 8% to $25.87 per share at the time of this writing around 2:33 in the afternoon in New York.

Sarissa believes Aegerion Pharmaceuticals’ stock is undervalued

Sarissa Capital acquired 1,637,455 shares or 5.76% stake in Aegerion Pharmaceuticals based on its 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The filing showed that the activist hedge fund purchased its shares in the biopharmaceutical company for total of $39.7 million.

Sarissa Capital acquired a stake in Aegerion Pharmaceuticals because it believes that the shares of the company are  undervalued.

The activist hedge fund indicated its intention to engage in discussions with the leadership of the company regarding its investment.

Dr. Alexander Denner is the chief investment officer and founding partner Sarissa Capital. He has an broad experience in supervising the operations and research development, and corporate governance of biopharmaceutical companies. Denner previously served as managing director at the different affiliated entities of Carl Icahn.

Shareholders demand ouster of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals CEO

Last month, Reuters reported that the top ten shareholders of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals demanded the ouster of its CEO Marc Beer. They also urged the company to consider selling itself due to the poor performance of its stock.

The report indicated that the company’s shareholders raised their concerns regarding its declining stock price and the credibility of Beer and his management team. Beer was involved in a controversial issue involving Sage Kelly, a former banker at Jefferies.

Over the past 52 weeks, the shares of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals declined from its highest trading price of $68.76 per share to as low as $19.10 per share.  The stock lost more than 55% of its value in one year.

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals is dedicated in developing drugs for patients with debilitating rare diseases. Last month, the company completed its acquisition of Myalept (metreleptin ), an orphan drug product designed to treat complications of leptin deficiency in patients with generalized lipodystrophy (GLD).

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