Activist investor Carl Icahn has given up his fight to take control of Dell. It puts an end to a 14-month-long episode that saw Icahn battle with founder and CEO Michael Dell over the fate of one of the world’s top sellers of PCs.
Icahn announced the news via a letter to shareholders. In it, he said he would continue to oppose the deal that Michael Dell has placed on the table. The founder, along with private equity firm Silver Lake, will pay roughly $25 billion to purchase all outstanding shares in Dell in an effort to take it private.
Terms of that deal came about after Icahn proposed to recapitalize Dell by buying 72 percent of shares, paying a special dividend to shareholders and issuing warrants to purchase additional shares at a later date.
The biggest hurdle to reaching a deal thus far was a clause in the original plan that would count a non-vote from a shareholder as a negative vote against the deal. Realizing they might not have a shot under this method, Dell and company sweetened the deal by raising the offer per share from $13.65 to $13.75 and agreeing to issue a one-time dividend for shareholders in exchange for modifying the way votes are tallied. The new arrangement will see that only votes that are actually submitted will count toward the final tally.
The revised plan is set to go before shareholders at a special meeting this Thursday.
https://www.techspot.com/news/53938-carl-icahn-gives-up-fight-to-take-control-of-dell.html
