Exclusive: Carl Icahn Won’t Seize Control Of Lions Gate

After Carl Icahn upped his stake in Lions Gate, market chatter exploded. What must you know about his LGF trade as well as his Amylin and Genzyme stakes?

Lions Gate

As you may know billionaire investor Carl Icahn made headlines earlier in the week when he revealed that he had increased his stake in Lions Gate to almost 30%.

Ichan’s name strikes fear in the hearts of boards across the country and joy for investors who trade along with him; as an activist shareholder he’s masterful at maximizing value and agitating for change.

On the Lions Gate news, shares immediately shot higher as investors placed bets that Icahn was looking to seize control of the company.

But Fast Money has learned, that’s not the case. “We are not looking to take control of Lions Gate. I want to make that clear,” he says in an exclusive interview.

Icahn told us that he just wants to have more say as the company looks to make acquisitions -- MGM and Miramax are two rumored targets. “My hope is that I’ll have more to say if I have 30% of the company.”

And that’s not all he told us.

Amylin

As you may know, Icahn is also quite active in the Pharma space. And despite comments from Lilly CEO John Lechleiter made on Fast Money confirming that Lilly isn’t looking to buy Amylin --Icahn tells us he’s not so sure about that.

”I heard the CEO of Eli Lilly say he’s not interested in buying Amylin, but at one time he said he wasn’t interested in ImClone,” Ichan says. (ImClone is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly)

“I’m not in any way singling out Lilly, but in general Big Pharma has a lot of capital and they don’t have a lot of biologics. That marriage has to take place in general.”

And there’s more.

Genzyme

With a potential proxy fight in the near future at Genzyme, Ichan has more than doubled his Genzyme stake to 4.8 million shares. And he tells us, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some action from us on it."

What’s the trade?

Since Carl isn’t interested in control of Lions Gate it says to me that he doesn’t want to be in the movie bsiness, says veteran trader Gary Kaminsky. If you’re in the stock because you thought Icahn was going to take control and sell the company – guess what, that’s not the plan.

But I think Lionsgate is a name you can own, counters Guy Adami. At these levels I think LGF is interesting as a potential takeover target.

I agree with Icahn about consolidation in Big Pharma, says Karen Finerman. I’m playing it with the XBI and the IBB.

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Trader disclosure: On February 18th, 2010, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s Fast Money were owned by the Fast Money traders; Kaminsky Owns (EPV); Adami Owns (AGU), (C), (GS), (INTC), (MSFT), (NUE), (BTU); Grasso Owns (ABK), (AAPL), (ASTM), (BAC), (BGP), (C), (COST), (CSCO), (FAZ), (PFE), (PRST), (WMT), (V); Finerman's Firm Owns (IBB); Finerman's Firm Owns (XBI); Finerman's Firm And Finerman Own (WFC) Preferred; Finerman's Firm Owns (BAC), (BAC) Leaps; Finerman Owns (BAC), (BAC) Preferred; Finerman's Firn And Finerman Own (JPM)
Finerman's Firm Is Short (IJR), (SPY), (IWM), (MDY), (USO)<; Finerman Owns (AAPL); Finerman's Firm Owns (BAC) Leaps, (BAC); Finerman Owns (BAC) Preferred, (BAC); Finerman's Firm And Finerman Own (GGWPQ), (GOOG), (JPM), (WFC); Terranova Owns (JPM), (RIMM), (IBM), (QCOM), (GOOG), (EMC), (AAPL), (DELL), MSFT); Terranova Is Long March 2010 Crude Oil Futures; Terranova Is Long April 2010 Crude Oil Futures; Terranova Is Long December 2010 Crude Oil Futures; Terranova Is Long December 2011 Crude Oil Futures; Terranova Is Long December 2012 Crude Oil Futures; Kelly Owns (HOV) Calls; Kelly Owns (ELX) Calls; Kelly Owns (FXE) Puts

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