Activist investor Carl Icahn has made an offer on the Wilsonville-based company he has been hounding for months.
75-year-old activist investor Carl Icahn is offering $1.9 billion for one of Oregon’s most significant companies.
Icahn became the largest shareholder of Mentor Graphics over the past year, and now is seeking to take over the company.
The $17-a-share offer represents a 17 percent premium over the company’s Feb. 18 closing price. Icahn said the offer is contingent on Wilsonville, Oregon-based Mentor removing anti- takeover provisions, such as its so-called poison pill.
Icahn, 75, called for the sale of the company, which helps engineers for electronic products work out design problems for chips, in an interview on CNBC this month. Mentor has posted two straight annual net losses as its revenue fell from fiscal 2008 levels. Icahn is Mentor’s largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“We believe that there are potential strategic bidders for Mentor Graphics whose bid will reflect inherent synergies and should be superior to our $17 offer,” Icahn said today in a letter to Mentor’s board.
Read more at Bloomberg.
