Icahn is offering $6 a share, unchanged from his partial tender offer for 13.2 million shares, according to an e-mailed statement today. He extended the deadline for tendering to April 30. As of Feb. 1, the company had 117.8 million shares outstanding, according to Bloomberg data.
The move coincides with today’s bidding deadline for Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., which has fallen behind on interest payments. Lions Gate, run from Santa Monica, California, and based in Vancouver, is among the suitors, people close to the situation said last month. Icahn, Lions Gate’s second-largest shareholder with about 19 percent, opposes the acquisition.
He's offering $6 per share in the hope that Lions Gate (LGF) shareholders will force their management to back away from their proposed buyout of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which we should note is not the same company as casino operator MGM Mirage. Icahn doesn't want MGM Studios and doesn't want to pay the $12 per share that purchasing a combined Lions Gate-MGM would probably require .
Betting against a buyout king like Carl Icahn is hard to do, but for now I'll pass. The deal isn't a sure thing and given LGF's rejection of Icahn's last offer they're likely to put up a good fight. The deal bears watching, but that's all I'm doing until I see some certainty.
