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Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has one more trick up his sleeve.
The activist has promised to sweeten his proposal for Dell shareholders just days before a July 18 shareholder vote to determine the fate of the struggling PC maker.
Icahn told Bloomberg TV yesterday that he plans on making one last-ditch effort to thwart founder Michael Dell’s $13.65-a-share offer by adding warrants to his $14-a-share tender offer on the table.
“That will make it definitely superior,” Icahn told Bloomberg. “We think, after talking to a number of shareholders, that this should win the day for us. But you can’t be sure, obviously.”
Holders of the warrants could exchange them for stock should Dell shares hit “around $20,” Icahn said.
His latest plan comes less than 24 hours after he issued a letter to shareholders urging them to reject the Dell-led buyout in favor of letting a Delaware judge decide the company’s fair value.
A person close to Dell’s special committee, led by presiding director Alex Mandl, said they would review Icahn’s newest offer.
As the campaign enters the final stretch, at least two Dell shareholders told The Post that the weeks-long effort has taken a toll on Mandl, leading them to wonder if he planned to step down from the board.
It may be a moot point, as the board would be dissolved if Dell and buyout shop Silver Lake succeed in taking the company private.
A person familiar with Mandl’s thinking said he has no intention of stepping down if the Dell/Silver Lake proposal fails and that he’s focused on winning the best deal for shareholders.
The 69-year-old has been lobbying shareholders to back the proposed $24.4 billion buyout, while he also tries to unload his sprawling 12,000-square-foot mansion in Great Falls, Va.
His French-style abode, which boasts five bathrooms and three kitchens, is listed at $5.9 million. He acquired it for around $1 million in the late 1990s, and it has been on and off the market for a decade, according to property records.