Carl Icahn’s net worth jumps by US$1 billion as company’s shares surge on loan agreement

CARL Icahn’s fortune got a US$1.1 billion boost Monday (Jul 10) after his Icahn Enterprises disclosed amended loan agreements with its iconic founder. The deal essentially severs his loans from the trading price of his company’s shares, allaying investor fears that he may have to liquidate his holdings following a scathing report by short seller Hindenburg Research that sent the stock plummeting by more than half in May. Icahn Enterprises shares surged 20 per cent to US$34.69 in New York trading, lifting the activist investor’s net worth to US$11.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s still about US$15 billion shy of his 2023 peak in February. But that was before Nate Anderson’s Hindenburg levelled a series of accusations against Icahn’s empire, claiming among other things that it was over-leveraged and trading at an excessively steep premium to its net asset value. The report also emphasised the more than 100 million shares Icahn had pledged as collateral for loans, equal to almost a third of his stake in IEP. Icahn, 87, is Icahn Enterprises’ biggest shareholder with an 85 per cent interest in the investment group, whose holdings span energy, auto dealers, food packaging and real estate among other industries. Icahn’s reworked deal with creditors, reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, shifts the trigger for a margin call from the market value of IEP’s shares to the net asset value of its underlying businesses. BLOOMBERG