NEW YORK (AP) — Activist investor Carl Icahn is offering to buy software maker Mentor Graphics Corp. for $17 per share in cash, or about $1.9 billion.
The offer is a 17 percent premium over the Wilsonville, Ore., technology company’s closing price last Friday. Its shares rose $2.51 to $17.03 in pre-market trading Tuesday.
According to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the billionaire investor’s offer leaves room for Mentor Graphics to receive even higher bids without paying him a break-up fee.
Icahn says in a separate filing that he met with Mentor Graphics last week to discuss putting the company up for sale.
His offer assumes that Mentor Graphics will waive a shareholder rights plan, or so-called “poison pill,” to protect the company from unsolicited takeover bids.
