DETROIT -- Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian Friday launched his planned tender offer to add to a stake in Ford Motor Co he said he acquired as an "attractive investment" and not to influence the automaker.
The cash tender offer for 20 million Ford shares through Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp is priced at $8.50 and is scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. EDT on June 9 unless it is extended, Tracinda said in a statement.
Tracinda Corp, of which Kerkorian is the sole investor, said it may propose business strategies for Ford depending on its evaluation of the automaker's business and other factors, and could acquire more shares after the tender offer.
"We are making our offer because we believe that the current management and leadership at Ford Motor Company and the pending execution of management's turnaround strategy make Ford Motor Company an attractive investment," Tracinda said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Kerkorian, a longtime activist investor in the U.S. auto industry, most recently held a nearly 10 percent stake in General Motors Corp and made an unsuccessful bid to acquire Chrysler in 2007.
Tracinda also had made an offer to acquire Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover operations in July 2007, but did not make it into the second round of bidders, it said in the filing.
Ford has announced plans to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors Ltd.
Ford, which has a multiyear plan that includes restructuring its North American operations to match production capacity with declining market share and to meet demand for smaller cars and crossovers, previously sold Aston Martin.
Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. told shareholders during the automaker's annual meeting on Thursday that the company welcomed Tracinda and thanked it for showing confidence in Ford's turnaround strategy.
Kerkorian disclosed in late April that Tracinda had acquired 100 million shares of Ford at an average price of $6.91 starting in early April and had planned a tender offer to raise that stake to 120 million shares, or about 5.5 percent.
The offer price represents a 13.3 percent premium over Ford's closing stock price on the last day before Kerkorian disclosed his stake in Ford and the tender offer.
Ford shares were up 6 cents at $8.26 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
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