NEW YORK—Icahn Enterprises L.P. is offering to increase its bid for auto service provider/auto parts retailer Pep Boys–Manny, Moe & Jack to as high as $18.10 a share.
Icahn launched its latest move to fend off any counter-offer by Bridgestone Americas, according to a Pep Boys 8K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Icahn Enterprises, which owns 12.1 percent of Pep Boys stock, made an offer on Dec. 18 of $16.50 a share for Pep Boys' outstanding shares—an offer Pep Boys' board of directors has declared a “superior proposal.”
That offer was set to expire at 5 p.m. on Dec. 23, but Philadelphia-based Pep Boys on Dec. 22 notified Bridgestone of its intention to terminate its recommendation for Bridgestone's offer of $15.50 a share from Dec. 11.
The Nashville, Tenn.-based tire maker now has until 8 p.m. on Dec. 24 to make a counter-offer, Pep Boys said.
Ican Enterprises' latest revision to its offer declares it is prepared to offer 10 cents more than any offer Bridgestone might propose, up to the $18.10 threshhold.
The document also states that Icahn Enterprises, through an affiliate, is prepared to execute its purchase agreement no later than 8 p.m. on Dec. 24 at a price per share “to be determined in accordance with the…amended Icahn proposal,” provided Pep Boys does not accept an offer from Bridgestone “that would result in Bridgestone being entitled to receive a termination fee.”
Otherwise, Pep Boys said, terms of Icahn Enterprises' offer are unchanged from the Dec. 18 proposal.