Activist investor looks to buy Clorox for $10.2B
Carl Icahn looks to take over California-based consumer products maker after becoming company’s largest stakeholder
NEW YORK&mdashActivist investor Carl Icahn has made an offer worth about $10.2 billion to make consumer products maker Clorox private.
The billionaire investor says his firm has proposed paying $76.50 a share for Clorox, which makes cleaning products, Hidden Valley salad dressing and the Burt’s Bees personal care product line.
Icahn is the largest shareholder in Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox. He values the deal at $12.6 billion and says Icahn Enterprises will contribute $3.8 billion in cash and $1 billion in Clorox stock to the deal.
The offer is an 11.8 per cent premium over Thursday’s closing price for Clorox of $68.43 a share.
Clorox stock jumped $8.44, or 12.3 per cent, to $76.87 in premarket trading – slightly above the offered price.
Jefferies & Co. said it will arrange the remaining $7.8 billion in financing, the letter says.
Icahn Enterprises bought a 9.4 per cent stake in Clorox in December. The company is offering a premium of 21 per cent based on the price of Clorox shares before it invested in the company.
Its shares have traded between $60.65 and $72.43 in the last year.
Other Clorox products also include Brita water filters, K C Masterpiece sauces, Kingsford charcoal, and Glad food and trash products.