LONDON, Jan 29 (APM) - Biogen Idec said it has received notice from billionaire investor Carl Icahn that he intends to nominate three people to its board as he seeks to expand his influence at one of the world's biggest biotechs.

Icahn Partners LP and affiliates reported owning 16.1 million shares, representing a stake of less than 6%, Biogen said in a Thursday statement.

It added that it will evaluate the nominees and the proposal and make a recommendation "in the best interests of all shareholders".

Icahn's nominees are Thomas Duel, Eric Rowinsky and Richard Young. Four seats on the 12-member board are up for election. The company's chief executive is set to retire and will not seek re-election. Neither will Bruce Ross, the company's former chairman.

Biogen said the proxy materials also include a proposal to amend the company's bylaws to fix the number of directors at 12.

Icahn nominated directors and made similar proposals to fix the size of the company's board at the 2008 and 2009 annual meetings, the biotech added.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen is one of the world's biggest biotechnology companies and maker of the multiple sclerosis drugs Avonex and Tysabri.

Icahn has been pushing for several years for the board to sell itself. To do that, he has been trying to secure a bigger influence on the board following a failed attempt by Biogen to find a buyer, a failure Icahn believes was deliberate.

He said in 2008 that Biogen sabotaged a sale by making it prohibitively difficult for potential buyers to talk to Biogen's partners Elan, which also markets Tysabri, and Genentech, with which it markets the cancer drug Rituxan.

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[17933] 29/01/2010 08:22 GMT - INDUSTRY