Icahn and Perelman... Where are they now?

Hi everyone,

Back in their 80s heyday, Corporate Raiders Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman were the top players in Private Equity, taking over TWA and Revlon respectively with the help of the so-called "Junk Bond King" Michael Milken. Other significant leveraged buyouts include KKR's takeover of RJR Nabisco, which eventually went down the drain as the company assumed a high debt load. While traditional Private Equity firms such as KKR, Blackstone and Carlyle are still in the game of LBOs, with recent buyouts such as Hilton, TXU, etc., what are Icahn and Perelman up to?

To me it looks like Icahn has switched to Activist Investing almost completely, taking minority stakes in publicly traded corporations, rather than acquiring a controlling interest via the issuing of junk bonds and using mezzanine financing. With regard to Perelman, I get the feeling that he focused his energy on losing his reputation as a Raider, instead replacing it with that of an industrialist. He doesn't seem to be very active in the buyout game...

Please let me know your thoughts.

2 Comments
 

Antonio Roca, bummer your thread hasn't had a response yet. Maybe one of these threads could point you in the right direction:

  • Financing a micro-lbo I've been reading Predator's Ball. Most of the heavy hitters (Icahn, Perelman, Peltz, ... this board, that knows how to finance something like this. My thoughts are: Seller's note: 2.5mm ... Bank note: 1mm Equity: 500k Where does the rest come from? ...
  • More suggestions...

Any pros willing to rescue this discussion? Jim Kaplan itsmeyourdad jgarcia

Hope that helps.

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