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FORD SHARES JUMP AS KIRK KERKORIAN BUYS IN
By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Daily Telegraph
28/04/2008
UK
Activist investor Kirk Kerkorian has amassed a 4.7pc stake in car
manufacturer Ford, backing the turnaround being put in place by chief
executive Alan Mulally.
Mr Kerkorian, through his Tracinda investment vehicle, bought 100m
Ford shares on the open market in the last month, and plans to acquire
a further 20m through a tender offer.
Kerkorian says that the Ford turnaround is gaining traction Tracinda
is offering to buy the shares at a price of $8.50 each, a 13.3pc
premium to Friday's closing price.
If the offer is a success, the billionaire will have a 5.6pc stake
in the company - worth approximately $1bn (£500m). Ford shares rose
as much as 10pc on the news.
Transport: news and views The American-Armenian's interest in Ford
comes just a week after it delivered a $100m profit in the first
quarter, reversing previous losses as Mr Mulally's plans appear to
be paying off.
advertisement In a statement, Tracinda said that Ford is starting to
"achieve highly meaningful traction in turn-around efforts."
Those efforts have included the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to
India's Tata earlier this year, and a landmark pay deal with the
Union of Automotive Workers in the US last Autumn.
Mr Mulally welcomed the Tracinda investment, adding that "any investor
can purchase Ford shares, which are sold on the open market."
But he will be only too aware of Mr Kerkorian's past form in the
automotive industry, where he has in the past built stakes in both
Chrysler and General Motors, where he pushed for change in the
structure of both companies.
However at Ford, Mr Kerkorian's stake-building appears to be for the
purposes of support and profit rather than as an activist shareholder.
In any event, given the Ford family's stranglehold on the company's
voting shares, pushing for change would be difficult.
That said, Mr Kerkorian has very deep pockets - with a personal
fortune in the region of $16bn - and is no stranger to a fight,
having dropped out of high school at the age of 14 after which he
became a successful amateur boxer.
--Boundary_(ID_WKSExWLak4Zah737zJ78cA)--
By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Daily Telegraph
28/04/2008
UK
Activist investor Kirk Kerkorian has amassed a 4.7pc stake in car
manufacturer Ford, backing the turnaround being put in place by chief
executive Alan Mulally.
Mr Kerkorian, through his Tracinda investment vehicle, bought 100m
Ford shares on the open market in the last month, and plans to acquire
a further 20m through a tender offer.
Kerkorian says that the Ford turnaround is gaining traction Tracinda
is offering to buy the shares at a price of $8.50 each, a 13.3pc
premium to Friday's closing price.
If the offer is a success, the billionaire will have a 5.6pc stake
in the company - worth approximately $1bn (£500m). Ford shares rose
as much as 10pc on the news.
Transport: news and views The American-Armenian's interest in Ford
comes just a week after it delivered a $100m profit in the first
quarter, reversing previous losses as Mr Mulally's plans appear to
be paying off.
advertisement In a statement, Tracinda said that Ford is starting to
"achieve highly meaningful traction in turn-around efforts."
Those efforts have included the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to
India's Tata earlier this year, and a landmark pay deal with the
Union of Automotive Workers in the US last Autumn.
Mr Mulally welcomed the Tracinda investment, adding that "any investor
can purchase Ford shares, which are sold on the open market."
But he will be only too aware of Mr Kerkorian's past form in the
automotive industry, where he has in the past built stakes in both
Chrysler and General Motors, where he pushed for change in the
structure of both companies.
However at Ford, Mr Kerkorian's stake-building appears to be for the
purposes of support and profit rather than as an activist shareholder.
In any event, given the Ford family's stranglehold on the company's
voting shares, pushing for change would be difficult.
That said, Mr Kerkorian has very deep pockets - with a personal
fortune in the region of $16bn - and is no stranger to a fight,
having dropped out of high school at the age of 14 after which he
became a successful amateur boxer.
--Boundary_(ID_WKSExWLak4Zah737zJ78cA)--