NEW YORK, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- An investor group that owns 3.3 percent of New York's Time Warner Inc. said Tuesday it had a plan to boost shareholder value by $40 billion.
The Carl Icahn-led group released a 347-page analysis of how splitting TWI into four separate, publicly traded companies through tax-free spinoffs would "release" about $40 billion in incremental shareholder value, MarketWatch said.
The Icahn group's report also said TWI should buy back $20 billion of its stock through a series of Dutch auction tender offers.
In response, TWI said late Tuesday it would shortly give shareholders its assessment of the Icahn document and also speed its share buybacks.
"Given the current price of Time Warner stock, we have decided to repurchase our stock even more aggressively," TWI said in a statement. "We see our stock at (today's) prices as a very attractive investment for our capital; however, we will maintain our previously stated comfort level of leverage of around three times debt to earnings."
Icahn's analysis and proposals were prepared by Lazard Ltd. and includes a scathing assessment of how TWI's chief executive, Dick Parsons, is running the communications and entertainment conglomerate.
