Icahn

Financier Carl C. Icahn's $450 million bid for Pan Am Corp. is being dismissed by most industry experts, but some think it may trigger a new round of bidding for the troubled airline.The bid by Mr. Icahn, chairman of Pan Am competitor Trans World Airlines, would be activated only if Pan Am's existing $400 million deal with United Airlines falls apart. That deal, for Pan Am's London routes and other assets, is to be completed by midnight tomorrow.Karen Firestone, airline analyst for Fidelity Investments in Boston, said an Icahn purchase of Pan Am is unlikely, but "everyone else is making an offer, so why shouldn't Icahn?

NEW YORK -- Investor Carl Icahn is expected to offer $450 million of junk bonds next week, about half of which will be used for future investments in speculative deals, sources say.The deal, similar in structure to what is known as a "blind pool," or "blind trust," is seen by fund managers as a sign of the return of a type of investing that was popular in the 1980s but has since gone out of style."

RESTON, Va. - XO Communications Inc. Chairman Daniel F. Akerson will resign after the seller of business phone and Internet services emerges from bankruptcy, allowing financier Carl Icahn to pick a new leader. Akerson, who has been XO's chairman and chief executive officer since September 1999, wants to "pursue other business interests and spend more time with his family," XO said in a statement. The company didn't say who would replace Akerson, who plans to work with XO as a consultant after the restructuring.

Trans World Airlines Chairman Carl C. Icahn and the airline's creditors have made major concessions to make the airline's pension fund viable and to guarantee jobs for its pilots, according to people involved in the talks.They said the concessions were an effort to reach an agreement on a reorganization plan that would enable the airline to emerge from bankruptcy.The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Icahn had offered to guarantee personally a significant part of the fund if it should run into trouble.

Icahn expected to quit TWAAfter making the final installment of a $200 million loan to Trans World Airlines, Carl Icahn is expected to resign as early as today from TWA, the only big-name company the takeover strategist ever bought.Mr. Icahn's loan, his promise to help fund TWA's pension plans and his resignation are part of an agreement that will allow the airline to complete its sale to creditors and employees.4 Japanese brokerages probedFederal stock market regulators are reportedly preparing legal action against the U.S. subsidiaries of Japan's four largest brokerage houses, according to a published report yesterday.

TWA cleared to leave bankruptcyA judge approved an agreement between Trans World Airlines Chairman Carl Icahn and one of TWA's biggest creditors, clearing the way for the airline to emerge from bankruptcy.The settlement yesterday with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that backs workers' pensions, ends a dispute over under-funded pension plans that had been the last major obstacle to TWA's reorganization. As part of the reorganization, ownership of TWA will shift from Mr. Icahn to the airline's creditors and unions.

Marriott court hearing postponedBethesda-based Marriott Corp. and its bondholders agreed yesterday to postpone a scheduling conference that had been set in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The meeting was rescheduled for Jan. 29.Several bondholders' groups have sued Marriott, accusing the hotel-and-service company of securities fraud for failing to disclose a restructuring plan, announced Oct. 5, when it issued bonds last spring.PaineWebber fined in stock casePaineWebber Inc. was ordered to pay nearly $9.69 million yesterday by a three-member arbitration panel of the National Association of Securities Dealers for misleading the 38-year-old nephew of the late Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.The nephew, John Robson, claimed damages for an errant trading strategy involving 403,300 Wal-Mart shares designed by a PaineWebber broker.

WASHINGTON -- "Greenmail" -- a favorite and lucrative tactic of corporate raiders -- survived its first legal challenge in the Supreme Court yesterday.Without explanation, the court voted to leave intact a federal appeals court ruling that had blocked a claim that greenmail is a form of "white collar extortion" outlawed by the federal extortion law.The appeals court had said that a target of greenmail by corporate raider Carl C. Icahn -- Viacom International Inc. -- had suffered no damages, and thus a lawsuit seeking a tripled monetary award against him could not go forward.

When hedge fund investor Eddie Lampert decided to take over operating control of Sears Holdings on Thursday, he decided to take charge himself rather than leave the job to professional managers. It was a decision fraught with risk: a financial investor with virtually no management experience taking control of one of the nation's largest retailers. This sort of coup by bankroll happens rarely in business, and for good reason: It doesn't work. Cable titan Ted Turner became so frustrated with the play of his Atlanta Braves that he donned a baseball uniform and managed from the dugout until Major League Baseball forced him to stop.

Investor Carl Icahn, who besieged General Motors, Yahoo and dozens of other companies over three decades, has dragged his trebuchets to the walls of Clorox Co., maker of toilet-bowl cleaner. Last month he offered $10.2 billion to buy the company, which manufactures liquid bleach in Aberdeen. He raised the deal to $10.7 billion after Clorox's board told him to get lost. It's an "unsolicited bid," as the financial press described it, although this goes without saying. You invite a takeover offer from Icahn no sooner than you solicit a case of shingles.