Icahn Enterprises signs confidentiality pact with Dell

Carl Icahn-controlled Icahn Enterprises LP said it entered into a confidentiality agreement with Dell Inc, less than a week after the activist investor joined a growing chorus of opposition to co-founder Michael Dell's plan to take the world's No. 3 personal computer maker private.

Dell shares rose 1 percent to $14.30 in premarket trading on Monday, remaining well above the offer price of $13.65.

Icahn, in a letter to Dell's board made public last week, demanded that Dell pay out $15.7 billion in special dividends instead of going private.

He argued that the proposed $24.4 billion buyout by Dell and Silver Lake Partners short-changed shareholders, undervalued the company and benefited mainly Michael Dell.

Icahn Enterprises said on Monday it looked forward to commencing a review of the company.

Dell was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore and Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)