Carl Icahn asks Caesars board to sell the company

Activist investor Carl Icahn, who revealed that he has 9.78 per cent shareholding in Caesars Entertainment Corp, has urged the company board to sell the company. He said it would serve the shareholder value best.

He stated: “Board should conduct a strategic process to comprehensively assess the best path forward for Caesars and believe that shareholder value might be best served, and enhanced, by selling the company,” Icahn said in a regulatory filing.

Icahn’s advice to the company must be seen in the context of the renewed approach for a merger made by Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire owner of Golden Nugget Casinos.

Caesars, whose casinos include the Harrah’s and Horseshoe brands, emerged from bankruptcy in 2017 after falling in $25 billion debt.

Icahn said he was seeking board representation at Caesars, including, if necessary, nominating a slate of directors at the company’s 2019 annual meeting.

“We believe that our brand of activism is well-suited to the situation at Caesars, which requires new thought, new leadership and new strategies,” Icahn said.