ICN SELLS 8.6% VOTING STAKE IN HOFFMANN-LAROCHE

Executive Summary

ICN SELLS 8.6% VOTING STAKE IN HOFFMANN-LAROCHE for an aggregate amount of $209 mil. in a private transaction, the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based firm announced March 24. ICN's holding included 1,380 shares of F. Hoffman-LaRoche voting shares valued at $151,300 each. ICN did not identify the buyer of the Hoffman-LaRoche stake. "In selling our major position in the company," ICN Chairman and CEO Milan Panic said, "we understand and respect Hoffmann-LaRoche's desire to remain in family control for the rest of this century." ICN reported in a September that it had acquired a 6.3% position in Hoffmann-LaRoche for approximately $200 mil. ("The Pink Sheet" Sept. 28, T&G-1). ICN said it "intends to use proceeds from the sale to acquire all or a part of one or more health care companies in order to expand the company's distribution capabilities, supplementing current product lines and adding compatible ones." ICN's profit from the Hoffmann-LaRoche transaction, ICN said, will be reported in the company's soon-to-be-released first quarter sales and earnings statement for the three months ended Feb. 29. The gain from the sale of Roche stock, ICN noted, "will reverse approximately $15.6 mil. of unrealized losses previously recorded" in the company's financial statements for fiscal 1987 (ended Nov. 30, 1987). At that time, ICN reported a $19.4 mil. decline in its portfolio.