Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sold his stake in American International Group Inc, ending a more than two-year association with one of the largest U.S. property and casualty insurers, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The activist investor started accumulating ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ shares in 2015 and became its third largest investor with a 4.76 percent stake as of the end of 2017.
But Icahn began planning to sell that stake last year as it became evident that ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ would name Brian Duperreault, an industry veteran who would oppose demands to break up the company, as its new CEO, said a second person familiar with the matter.
Both people spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Icahn exited ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ when the company’s stock changed hands at a price between $60 and $65 – levels last seen in February, one of the sources said.
At $65 per ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ share, Icahn’s stake would have been worth $2.78 billion, according to Reuters’ calculations.
It was not immediately known how much Icahn made from the ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ investment.
ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ shares fell nearly 1 percent to $52.30 in morning trade on Monday.
Icahn Enterprises did not immediately respond to a request for comment and ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ declined to comment.
In the company’s first quarter investor presentation released last week, ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ was not included on a list of significant holdings. Its presentation for the fourth quarter of 2017 had shown ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ as the largest of five significant holdings.
In keeping with his aggressive activist investment strategy, Icahn had publicly pressed ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ to shrink and threatened a proxy fight with the company’s management.
The insurer was forced to embark on a two-year turnaround plan developed by former Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock, which intended to return $25 billion to shareholders.
The company also sold some assets and hired Duperreault, spurring Icahn to back off on his demand to break up the company.
In March, ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ said Samuel Merksamer, a representative of Icahn on the company’s board, would not seek re-election.
On Wednesday, ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ shareholders will vote on a $43.1 million 2017 compensation package for Duperreault, who has vowed to grow the company by making acquisitions and boosting revenues.
(Additional reporting by Parikshit Mishra and Sweta Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Bill Trott)
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