Carl Icahn’s dust-up with Dell may not amount to much.
Dell yesterday agreed to give the corporate cage rattler a confidential look at its books, raising the prospect that he might make a bid to counter the $13.65-a-share offer from founder Michael Dell and private-equity shop Silver Lake Partners.
Although Icahn picks plenty of fights, he has a spotty record when it comes to actually bidding.
The buyout group is betting he won’t submit an offer before March 22, when the “go-shop” period ends for other bidders to come forward.
A source close to group said the partners don’t plan to sweeten their offer and view Icahn as an interloper bent on lining his pockets.
“[Carl]’s not going to help make [Dell] a better computer company,” said one deal insider. “He’s only interested in one thing: money.”
Icahn, who has joined a vocal group of shareholders opposed to the buyout, including Southeastern Asset Management, is pushing Dell’s board to restructure the offer and return more cash to investors.
Dell’s shares yesterday rose 1.5 percent to $14.37, suggesting shareholders are holding out hope for the deal to be sweetened.
“I expect them to offer some sort of sweetener or special dividend,” said Kathleen Wailes, an executive at public-relations firm Levick Communications.
However, people familiar with the deal argue that the group doesn’t have a lot of flexibility to tweak the original offer.
“The pressure is definitely increasing to raise the bid but doesn’t change the fundamentals underlying Dell,” said Bill Kerher, tech analyst at Edward Jones. “Silver Lake spent a lot of time examining Dell. It’s going to be difficult for them to raise their offer.”
“From my perspective, investors need to think about where [Dell’s shares] could go back to if this deal falls through,” he added.