Commodities & Metals

What Carl Icahn Wants From Freeport-McMoRan

Active investor
Source: Thinkstock
After the markets closed on Thursday, activist investor Carl Icahn revealed that he had acquired an 8.46% stake in copper and gold miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX). The stock, which had already added nearly 30% at the closing bell, popped another 19% after hours.

According to the Icahn’s filing, he and several of his companies have acquired an aggregate 88 million shares in Freeport. About 7.6 million were purchased outright and the remainder “may be deemed beneficially owned” due to three forward contracts. At Thursday’s closing price of $10.19, Icahn’s stake is valued at around $900 million. According to the filing, the value of the stake when shares were purchased or put under contract was around $1.2 billion.

In the filing Icahn said that he believes the shares are undervalued and the he intends to have discussions with the board and management of Freeport relating to the company’s capital expenditures, executive compensation packages and capital structure. He also wants the company to rein in its high-cost production operations.

Earlier Thursday, Freeport said it was cutting its 2016 capex budget by 29%, firing about 10% of its workforce and cutting its copper production. Freeport already had chopped its oil and gas capex budget by nearly a third.

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Icahn’s investment in Freeport began in mid-July, and the forward contracts he entered into allow him to buy the shares at $9, $15 and $17 a share. The $17 forwards were the earliest contracts, and the closing stock price on July 17 was $15.88, the first date Icahn purchased Freeport shares. The stock hit a 52-week low on Wednesday.

Freeport paid a cash dividend of $0.05 per share in May and July. The company also paid a special dividend of $0.1105 per share related to the settlement of a shareholder lawsuit over the company’s 2012 acquisition of oil and gas companies McMoRan Exploration and Plains Exploration and Production. Last year the company’s quarterly dividend was $0.3125 per share.

In the second quarter of this year, Freeport took a $2.7 billion impairment charge and faces more to come in the second half of the year if crude oil prices do not rise sharply.

Icahn’s not looking for a dividend payout here. He almost certainly wants the company to get rid of the oil and gas albatross it acquired and very likely to shed or close its expensive North American copper mines. Both are reasonable goals, but may be difficult to achieve. Freeport filed a registration statement for an IPO of its oil and gas operations in June, but an IPO in which the company sells a minority stake is not likely to satisfy Icahn.

Freeport responded to the Icahn filing late Thursday, saying in part:

FCX maintains an open dialogue with our shareholders and welcomes constructive input toward our common goal of enhancing shareholder value.

Freeport’s shares traded up more than 17% in Friday’s premarket, at $11.95 in a 52-week range of $7.76 to $36.48.

ALSO READ: Deutsche Bank Says Stick With Top Stocks Growing Dividends

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