Carl Icahn increased his bid to buy out auto parts maker, Federal-Mogul (FDML).
Icahn Enterprises (IEP) upped its price for the rest of the company not owned by the the financial firm by a dollar, to $8 per share, according to a regulatory filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That totals about $243.4 million for the stake. Icahn Enterprises already owns roughly 82% the parts supplier.
Icahn offered the initial $7 per share bid in February in a move to strengthen its auto business as the falling price of oil weakens its energy business. Auto is Icahn’s second largest sector buy revenue.
Earlier this year, Icahn agreed to pay $1 billion for Pep Boys, an auto parts and maintenance chain.
Shares of Federal-Mogul pushed upward 4% Monday, though they have risen 70% since Icahn first announced intentions to buyout the company. Now the stock is trading above Icahn’s offering price—at $8.48 a share.
Which suggests that the bid price could still be a tad too low to woo shareholders.
A Monday note released by GAMCO Investors (GBL) noted that the new price is considerably below the $13.15 Federal-Mogul quoted for its February 2015 rights offering. That allowed exiting Federal-Mogul shareholders to buy a fraction of a share for $13.15, Barron’s first reported.
Though GAMCO, headed by investing titan Mario Gabelli, may be in for a win. Gamco owned about 4.6% of the company by the end of the last quarter.
The transaction would require approval by a Federal-Mogul’s independent directors, and majority shareholder.
