(New York) Investment fund Hindenburg Research embarked on a new crusade on Tuesday, this time accusing activist investor Carl Icahn’s company of inflating the value of certain assets and sending its stock plummeting in Wall Street.
Icahn Enterprises was down more than 20% mid-trade on Wall Street.
Hindenburg regularly publishes reports accusing companies of misleading investors about certain elements of their activities while betting on a decline in their stock market. These recent victims include Indian tycoon Gautam Adani’s empire and Jack Dorsey’s (ex-Twitter) group, Block.
Regarding Icahn Enterprises, Hindenburg believes that the group values its investments in various companies much higher than reality.
“We believe Icahn, a Wall Street legend, made a classic mistake of taking on too much debt to invest in the face of sustained losses: a combination that rarely ends well,” reads the report released Tuesday.
Carl Icahn regularly attacks new companies by discreetly buying shares before publicly calling on their management to change their strategy to unlock more value. His campaigns sometimes result in a surge in action.
But “ despite the few high-profile victories in Icahn’s career, his recent performances have suffered”, says Hindenburg.
The group manages to stand up because Carl Icahn and his son own 85% of the company and do not use cash dividends, but in the form of new shares, the fund says.
“In short, Icahn is using money from new investors to pay dividends to old investors,” Hindenburg wrote in his report.
Icahn Enterprises did not immediately respond to requests from AFP.
