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BOSTON - US car parts maker Lear Corp said yesterday its shareholders voted down a buyout offer from an affiliate of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, rejecting the board's recommendation.
The company said the offer from Icahn's American Real Estate Partners was not supported by a majority of shareholders who voted at its annual meeting in Wilmington, Delaware.
Lear's board of directors had recommended that shareholders approve the sweetened US$3 billion ($3.8 billion), or US$37.25 per share, offer.
But it met opposition from influential advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services as well as Lear's second-biggest shareholder, Pzena Investment Management, and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which argued that it undervalued the company.
"We respect the stockholder majority," Lear chairman and chief executive Bob Rossiter said.
Pzena has argued that Lear is worth US$55 to US$60 a share, while the California teachers system estimated it is worth US$40 to US$50 a share.
Shares of Southfield, Michigan-based Lear were up US4c at US$36.94 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Icahn, who first bid US$36 a share for Lear in February, was due to receive a US$25 million breakup fee in cash and Lear stock if shareholders rejected the offer. That could be raised to US$85 million if Lear is sold to another bidder within a year.
Lear, which makes car seats and electronics, had postponed the vote from June in an effort to drum up more support.
Lear shares have run up about 50 per cent in value since October, when it disclosed that Icahn would take a US$200 million stake in the company.
- REUTERS
