Icahn Offers $17/Share for Mentor Graphics

Fresh off his failed Dynegy (NYSE:DYN) bid, billionaire investor Carl Icahn has offered to buy yet another company, chip-design software maker Mentor Graphics (NASDAQ:MENT), in a deal valued at roughly $1.73 billion.

Icahn, who already holds a 14.7% stake in the company, lobbed the $17-a-share bid in a letter to the Wilsonville, Ore-based company’s board of directors. The offer represents a 17% premium to Mentor’s closing price of $14.52 on Friday.

“We believe that there are potential strategic bidders for Mentor Graphics whose bid will reflect inherent synergies and should be superior to our $17 offer,” Icahn said in the letter. Though he went on to note that, in any event, shareholders should have the opportunity to accept the offer by Icahn Enterprises or a higher one.

Earlier this month, the investor pressured Mentor to put itself up for sale, threatening a proxy battle to control its board.

Icahn, who said in the letter that he will not insist upon a break-up fee in the transaction, so as “not to provide a roadblock to others who may want to consider bidding higher,” hopes to waive anti-takeover devices and a poison pill through the offer.