Icahn vents on Occidental’s $38 billion purchase of Anadarko Petroleum

  • June 27, 2019

A year after he took control of the board of directors at Oklahoma City’s SandRidge Energy, corporate activist Carl Icahn is busy being critical of Houston’s Occidental Petroleum.
It comes in the middle of his lawsuit against Occidental for its pending $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum.
This week, he called the acquisition a “fiasco” that is destroying shareholder value. Icahn is still seeking a potential board meeting to appoint new members.
But he also used the Occidental Petroleum case as an example of a deal gone wrong while praising the effort for Eldorado Resorts to acquire Caesars Entertainment in a roughly $17 billion deal combining two Nevada gaming giants. That deal closed the door on Tilman Fertitta’s bid to acquire Caesars, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Occidental responded to Icahn’s criticism.

“We maintain an open dialogue with all our shareholders and welcome constructive input toward our shared goal of maximizing long-term value. Our Board is committed to acting in the best interests of Occidental shareholders and will continue to take actions to drive value on their behalf,” stated the company in a press release.

“We remain focused on completing our transaction with Anadarko in the second half of 2019, which we believe will create significant value and enhanced returns for shareholders.

We will review the latest materials filed by Mr. Icahn and look forward to addressing them in our ongoing conversations with Occidental shareholders.”

It was in June of last year when Icahn successfully took control of SandRidge Energy. He managed to get five seats on the oil and gas company’s board of directors. His takeover came after he was critical of the company’s $746 million purchase of rival Bonanza Creek Energy. The criticism forced SandRidge eventually to back out of the deal.

 

Jerry Bohnen