Occidental Petroleum Corp. was sued on Thursday by one of its shareholders, investor Carl Icahn, who has a $1.6 billion stake in the company, over its $56 billion bid to acquire Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
In the lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court by a group of Icahn's firms, the investor argues that Occidental "disenfranchised" its stockholders by not consulting them about the acquisition. "The Anadarko deal is very much a bet-the-company deal from the point of view of the common stockholders. Not consulting them on the deal was disenfranchising at a minimum," he stated, calling the bid "fundamentally misguided and hugely overpriced."
One of the moves Icahn is considering is to call a special shareholder meeting to elect new board members. To proceed with this, he would need the votes of 15% of the shareholders, which was lowered from 25% earlier in May. Other options mentioned in the suit include paying the company's debt more aggressively than currently in plan.
