FORM
6-K
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Report of Foreign Private
Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a - 16
under
the Securities Exchange Act of
1934
For
the month of July, 2008
ICON
plc
(Registrant’s
name)
0-29714
(Commission
file number)
South
County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland.
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under
cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Yes___X___
No_______
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as
permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1):
Yes______
No___X___
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as
permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7):
Yes______
No___X___
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in
this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant
to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Yes_______ No___X___
If “Yes”
is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in
connection with Rule 12g3-2(b):82 N/A
EXHIBIT
LIST
| Exhibit | Description | |
| 99.1 | Letter to Shareholders of ICON plc. |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto
duly authorized.
|
ICON
plc
|
|
| Date: July 10, 2008 |
/s/ Ciaran
Murray
|
|
Ciaran
Murray
|
|
|
Chief Financial
Officer
|
Exhibit
99.1
Letter
to Shareholders of ICON plc
Dear
All
In
response to the negative voting recommendations on our proposed share award
plans made by Institutional Shareholder Services Inc and which we addressed in
our communication to you on July 8, we have been in direct contact with a
substantial percentage of our shareholders and we would like to share their
feedback with you.
We have
received positive feedback from substantially all of the investors that we have
spoken to. Indeed a significant majority have already indicated that
they will vote in favour of the resolutions while others have said that they
will need to work with their compliance departments in view of the proxy advisor
services’ recommendations. All have indicated that they understand
and appreciate management’s rationale for trying to introduce these new share
compensation plans in terms of staff incentivisation and retention, and
permitting a global company to compete in a global market.
We hope
this information is helpful to you as you make your decision. To
allow you time to further consider our proposed share award plans we have
extended the proxy voting deadline from 5.00 pm Eastern Standard Time on July 11
to 3.00 pm Eastern Standard Time on July 17. Please be advised that
the internet and telephone voting deadline will be 11.59 pm on July
16.
Regards
/s/ Peter
Gray
CEO
ICON
plc