Houston Chronicle


Famed corporate activist Carl Icahn said he reduced his ownership stake in Occidental Petroleum by nearly one-third, but he vowed to continue to wage his proxy war against the company stemming from his opposition to Oxy’s $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum.

Icahn reduces Oxy stake, vows to carry on proxy war - oil and gas 360

Photo: KARSTEN MORAN, STR

Famed corporate activist Carl Icahn said he reduced his ownership stake in Occidental Petroleum by nearly one-third, but he vowed to continue to wage his proxy war against the company stemming from his opposition to Oxy’s $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum.

Arguing that he doesn’t want to expose any more money to what he calls poor corporate leadership, Icahn said he shrank his ownership position from nearly 5 percent to almost 3.5 percent. He will continue to seek to replace four of Oxy’s 10 board members.

“We fully intend to run a proxy fight, and if elected, work to right this teetering ship,” Icahn wrote Friday in his letter to Oxy shareholders.

While Icahn couldn’t prevent the deal from going through, his proxy war – if successful – could allow him to oust the Oxy leadership and even try to sell the company.

This summer, Houston-based Oxy closed on its massive acquisition of The Woodlands-based Anadarko and its crown jewel acreage in West Texas’ Permian Basin in the biggest energy deal in a few years. Oxy fought to outbid the much larger Chevron to buy Anadarko.

But the deal loaded Oxy up with debt and triggered a negative Wall Street reaction. Oxy’s stock has plunged 40 percent since its bidding war with Chevron first became public in April.

Icahn derisively noted that Oxy’s market value is below $35 billion – less than the $38 billion it paid for Anadarko. He repeatedly referred to the deal as the “OxyDarko debacle” and said Oxy is making a poor and risky bet on higher oil prices. He even compared Oxy to Enron and the recent fall from grace of the office leasing company WeWork.

Earlier this week, Oxy said it would axe its 2020 capital spending by nearly 40 percent from the combined 2019 totals of Oxy and Anadarko in order to reduce debt and protect its sizable dividend payouts to investors.

Oxy contends it is building an acreage position — especially in the booming Permian Basin — for the best long-term growth and profit. Oxy already has approved more than $10 billion in asset sales, including selling Anadarko’s Africa assets for $8.8 billion to the French energy major Total.


Legal Notice