Icahn promising new, higher Dell bid to be unveiled on Friday
As if there weren't enough proposals floating around about what to do with Dell, expect at least one more before the end of the week.
That's because notable Dell investor Carl Icahn has another plan up his sleeve, set to be unveiled on Friday, July 12.
Without revealing an exact figure yet, the American business magnate has told Bloomberg TV that he thinks the beleaguered PC company is worth more than $14 per share.
Here's an excerpt from the interview:
We are going to be coming up with a higher bid tomorrow morning. A little bump on my part. That is what I am looking for. You are giving US $14. You have a 73 percent taking. I think this is superior to the $14.65. We will add to that bid. We will warrant to that. The bid will be superior, even to what is superior. We are giving $14. They are 75 percent. Then they will own the stub for 25 percent of the stock. We think it is worth more than $14. We will do a warrant which will be valuable. This is vastly superior to the Dell deal … We are going to come and add to the package, which we think is superior already. We think that it will be around $20, buy the stock at $20, and we will give the shareholders a piece that warrant. We think that will make it utterly superior and we will go to the independent board. We will show them this and tell them that we think it is superior. This is our recommendation, and we hope that it has traction. You cannot be sure, obviously, so, we will see what happens. So you heard it here first.
Here's a quick recap of where things have stood up until now as company executives fight over whether Dell should revert to operating as a private company.
As of June 5, the Round Rock, Texas-based corporation had two options on the table:
An all-cash deal from Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners for $13.65 per share
An alternative from Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management that leverages the company to pay a $12 special dividend and buy up 72 percent of existing shares.
Blackstone was previously involved in the mix, but later dropped out amid the global PC market meltdown.
There have been debates back and forth over whether Michael Dell and company should raise their initial $24.4 billion offer.
Icahn tried requesting a meeting with Dell's special committee on the matter after lining up approximately $5.2 billion in loans to back his alternative buyout bid.
However, the special committee rejected Icahn's bid as "inconsistent".
Concurring with Silver Lake, top proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services backed the CEO's plan earlier this week.