Deals
Southwest Gas Board Rejects Carl Icahn’s Unsolicited Takeover Offer
- Southwest says bid undervalues company and is “illusionary”
- Southwest says selling Centuri construction unit is an option
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
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Southwest Gas Holdings Inc. rejected a takeover attempt by billionaire Carl Icahn, saying his unsolicited tender offer undervalues the U.S. utility. Icahn fired back with a heated letter, calling the company’s response “the height of hypocrisy.”
The escalating dispute makes a proxy fight more likely as “the company and Icahn continue to trade blows,” analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a research note Wednesday. It will also focus more attention on how Southwest plans to finance its pending $2 billion deal to buy Questar Pipeline Co., the transaction that set off the fight last month with the billionaire activist investor.