Activist investor Carl Icahn suggested on Monday that he no longer intended to solicit proxies to vote against the $52 billion Cigna-Express Screenplays deal, a turn around from his position last week when he persuaded the health insurer’s shareholders to vote against it.
Icahn’s comments drop after proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Co and Institutional Shareholder Advantages Inc (ISS), as well as hedge fund Glenview Capital Management, extended their supporter for the deal.
“In light of the ISS and Glass Lewis recommendations in favor of the Cigna/Show Scripts transaction and the significant stockholder overlap between the two companies, we participate in informed the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) that we no longer intend to appeal for proxies to vote against the transaction,” Icahn said in a statement.
Indicating with CNBC about the decision, Icahn took a conciliatory note, saying: “The crossover was too big and certainty what the advisory firms said we realized there was no way we could win. Now you have to be flexible. There’s no point in fighting just to fight. We won three representative fights in a row which is really hard to do, so you lose one. It’s the way of life.”
The billionaire investor, who has a great position on Cigna and a short position on Express Scripts, had been vocal in his disparagement of the deal and last week said Cigna was overpaying for Express Penmanships.
At the time, he urged Cigna’s shareholders to rally against the deal at a referendum scheduled for Aug. 24, citing regulatory hurdles and the growing threat from Amazon.
The presented deal between Cigna and Express Scripts, announced in March, was drafted as a new way for the companies to hold onto profits as the U.S. healthcare industry faces outstanding scrutiny for rising costs.
—CNBC’s Scott Wapner contributed to this announcement.