Activist investor Carl Icahn yesterday asked his fellow shareholders in truck maker Oshkosh Corp. [OSK] to either tender their shares to him or vote to replace directors on the company’s board with his forthcoming nominees to point the company in a new direction more friendly to shareholders.
Icahn last week launched his tender offer of Oshkosh’s stock at $32.50 per share (Defense Daily, Oct. 18). The tender offer, valued at $3 billion, is good for 45 days, although Icahn said he would extend it depending on the response from shareholders. He is the company’s largest shareholder and owns nearly 10 percent of Oshkosh’s stock.
In his letter to shareholders, Icahn said that when Oshkosh’s current chief, Charlie Szews, took over the company five years ago, its stock was trading at nearly $62 per share. For the one-year period leading up to the tender offer, the company’s stock traded at an average of $21.15, Icahn said.
Part of the new direction Icahn wants to take Oshkosh includes spinning off Oshkosh’s JLG unit that makes access equipment for the construction, industrial and other industries. While Icahn won’t announce his candidates for Oshkosh’s board until later this week, one of his planned nominees is William Lasky, the former chairman and CEO of JLG until its sale to Oshkosh in 2006.
“We are now offering a clear choice that we view as a win-win for shareholders,” Icahn wrote. “Shareholders can win by selling their shares to us in our tender offer for $32.50. Or, shareholders can win by voting four our slate of directors in our proxy fight to replace the existing board, and implementing a shareholder friendly business strategy, the cornerstone of which is the spinoff of JLG.”
Oshkosh said yesterday that it will advise shareholders of its position on Icahn’s unsolicited offer by the end of October.