Icahn Makes $1.91 Billion Bid for Mentor Graphics
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered to buy Mentor Graphics Corp. of the U.S. for $1.91 billion, less than two weeks after saying the chip-design software company should put itself up for sale.
The bid, valued at $17 a share, comes after Mr. Icahn’s $665 million takeover offer for power-generation company Dynegy Inc. expired on Friday. Mr. Icahn is well-known for targeting companies he views as undervalued, seeking changes such as new management to boost shareholder value.
Mr. Icahn and another Mentor investor, Casablanca Capital LLC, have criticized Mentor’s management for hurting shareholders and wasting money. Both Mr. Icahn and Casablanca—run by former Lazard banker Douglas Taylor and by Donald Drapkin, a former official with Lazard and Ronald O. Perelman’s investment firm—also have lambasted the Wilsonville, Ore., company for efforts to move up its annual shareholder meeting and undermine possible efforts to vote on rival board candidates.