Autoblog

In late April, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian made public his intention to have Tracindo Corp., his investment company, buy up an additional 20 million shares of Ford stock to up his ownership of the Blue Oval from 4.7% to 5.6%. He offered $8.50/share, which at the time was a small premium over Ford's share price of $7.50 and today is a big premium over its current price of $6.16/share. He set a deadline for Ford shareholders to respond to his offer by yesterday at 5 PM, and boy did they. Kirkorian received offers to buy 1 billion shares of Ford, 980,000,000 more than he intends to buy. As such, Tracinda Corp. will easily acquire the additional shares it needs to reach 5.6% ownership of Ford at a price of around $170 million, but hasn't stated that it will buy up anymore of the Dearborn-based automaker. Ford's board of directors has already stated on record that it is neutral and has no opinion about Kirkorian's increase in shares. We wonder if their mood will change when he asks to sit down at the table with them at talk business.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

There's no indication that a leopard has ever changed its spots, so while Kirk Kerkorian and his Tracinda Corporation are making noises like they'll strive to be hands-off Ford shareholders, we'd expect some eventual attempts at steering the automaker from the board. As part of an offer to purchase more shares, Tracinda Corp. stated to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has no intent to gobble up or influence Ford. The Las Vegas-based investment firm went on to say that it will continue to monitor the performance of its holding, and may suggest business moves to the automaker.

Jerry York apparently took this to heart when he started mouthing off about what Ford should do with Volvo and Mercury, but that statement has since been rescinded as "shooting from the hip." It would not be a surprise, given the past attempts of Kerkorian and his toadies to direct the course of General Motors and Chrysler, that he once again start to make aggressive attempts at directing the moves of Ford. Tracinda is Ford's largest shareholder, though the hierarchy of Ford's board gives the family a lot of voting muscle. Kerkorian's most recent offer to Ford is for an additional 20 million shares at $8.50 per share, as well as the future prospect of a cash infusion to offer the turnaround plan further liquidity and thus, flexibility. Ford is mulling Kerkorian's bid, but the turnaround plan was put together without Tracinda's money, and can proceed without it, though more money on hand would allow Ford to accelerate its plans. Everyone's playing it cool, though meetings between Bill Ford Jr., Alan Mulally, and Kerkorian are ongoing, and the board of directors has promised a response to Kerkorian by May 22nd.

[Source: Detroit News, Photo: Detroit News]

The auto industry's old friend Kirk Kerkorian is back on the scene, and this time he has his sights set on Ford. In a press release issued today, Kerkorian's company Tracinda Corp. announced that it intends to buy 20 million shares of FoMoCo at $8.50 per share, which is a 13% premium over the $7.50/share at which Ford's stock closed on Friday. This would up Tracinda's ownership of Ford from 100 million shares at 4.7% to 120 million at 5.6%. In its press release, Tracinda expressed confidence in Ford's performance going forward under the leadership of Alan Mulally, and revealed that the investment firm has been watching the automaker since it surprised the industry with its Q4 2007 earnings. Last week's announcement of a better-than-expected Q1 2008 for Ford apparently sealed the deal for Kerkorian.

Kerkorian has had a tumultuous past with Ford's crosstown rivals, General Motors and Chrysler. At one time he owned nearly 10% of GM and tried to broker a deal between the world's largest automaker and Nissan-Renault that ultimately fell through, after which Kerkorian sold all of his stock in the General. He also sued DaimlerChrysler for its allegedly deceptive "merger of equals" statement back in 1998, then tried to buy Chrysler from Daimler after it was all over.

Ford has released a statement by Bill Ford, Jr. and Alan Mulally that can be read after the jump, but it basically says that the company's stock is able to be purchased by anyone, even Kirk Kerkorian. As for what the 90-year-old is up to with his bid to buy more Blue Oval stock, time will tell.

[Source: Bloggingstocks, Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty]