Carl Icahn Cuts Stake in Transocean
September 28 2016 - 6:20PM
Dow Jones News
Activist investor Carl Icahn has slashed his holdings in Swiss
offshore drilling company Transocean Ltd. by about three-quarters
to a 1.5% stake.
In a regulatory filing Wednesday Mr. Icahn reported the smaller
stake, which represents some 5.48 million shares, down from a 5.88%
position, or some 21.48 million shares in August, according to
FactSet. The move was made "in order to recognize a capital loss
for tax planning purposes," according to the filing.
Shares of the Transocean, down 16.4% over the past year, fell
0.4% to $9.98 in after-hours trading.
Mr. Icahn reported that he had increased his holdings of the
company to 5.61% of outstanding shares in January 2013 after
posting a new 1.62% stake a year earlier. He had sold his entire
previous position in 2006.
In a 2013 filing, Mr. Ichan said he had increased his holdings
because he believed the shares were undervalued. From 2013 through
his most recent move, his holdings hovered mostly just under
6%.
Earlier this year, Transocean agreed to buy back the master
limited partnership that it formed to boost its financial structure
and mollify friction with the billionaire investor. The deal valued
Transocean Partners LLC at about $514 million.
Switzerland-based Transocean, which has the world's largest
fleet of offshore drilling rigs, has sharply cut its fleet, taking
some rigs out of service and scrapping others as it tries to
recover from an ill-timed expansion just before oil prices
collapsed.
The slump in oil prices has caused energy producers to dial back
investment and exploration plans, prompting two years of spending
cuts, canceled projects and tens of thousands of layoffs.
Earlier this month, Mr. Icahn reported that he had exited over
half of his stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp., citing similar
tax-planning reasons. Mr. Icahn reported a 4.55% stake in the
energy company, compared with 9.4% in August.
Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2016 19:05 ET (23:05 GMT)
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