Activist Carl Icahn Calls Off Dell Fight After Improved Offer

(Bloomberg) -- Activist investor Carl Icahn is ending his proxy fight and litigation against Dell Technologies Inc. after the tech giant boosted its offer to holders of its tracking stock.

“Largely due to our opposition, today Dell enhanced the deal,” Icahn said in a statement posted to his website Thursday.

“We have determined that a proxy fight would be unwinnable and have decided to withdraw our Delaware litigation and terminate our proxy contest,” he said.

Dell on Thursday offered $120 per share in cash and stock for the tracking stock, known as DVMT, and bumped the cash portion of the deal to $14 billion from $9 billion in an effort to win over shareholders, among other measures. The company has won public support for its revised offer from about 17 percent of the tracking stock's holders, including funds affiliated with Dodge & Cox and Elliott Management Corp.

A representative for Dell declined to comment.

Icahn, who owns a 9.3 percent stake in DVMT, had been a vocal opponent of the original deal, claiming it undervalued shares and saying he would do “everything in my power” to stop the proposed merger. This month he sued the company to try to get access to its books and records, saying Dell had refused to provide information related to the deal. Dell had denied Icahn's allegations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Deveau in New York at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz

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