Federal-Mogul to Go Private After Icahn Makes Bid for Balance Stake

Federal-Mogul is one of the leading manufacturers of automotive parts and has made a name for itself when it comes to powertrain components like valve seats and pistons. It also makes Moog chassis parts, Champion spark plugs, Wagner brake parts and Anco wipers. While many other automotive companies have forayed into autonomous driving technologies and components for electric vehicles, Federal-Mogul has stuck to its core components. The company has now agreed to accept an offer from Carl Icahn to an offer of USD 9.25 per share so that he could take complete ownership of the company.

Carl Icahn already owns nearly 82 per cent of the company. His move to take over Federal Mogul will strengthen his position as a longtime player in the automotive industry. He had recently invested USD 1 billion to acquire the Pep Boys auto parts and repair chain after a bidding war with the Japanese tire manufacturer, Bridgestone. In June 2015, he has made a USD 340 deal to purchase Auto Plus, which is the US subsidiary of the Canadian auto parts distributor, Uni-Select Inc. The acquisition of the balance shares in Federal-Mogul is part of Icahn’s strategy to vertically integrate his automotive businesses. He would also be able to take advantage of an expected increase in the demand for parts as the vehicle parc in North America gets to be bigger and older and vehicles break down more frequently.

After the finalization of the deal with Federal-Mogul, federal-Mogul will become a private company that will be a part of Icahn Enterprises LP, Icahn’s publicly traded corporation. Icahn has been trying to acquire the minority Federal-Mogul shares from February this year when he had made an initial offer of USD 7 per share. He later upped this to USD 8 per share in June and has now finalized the deal at USD 9.25 per share