Icahn Sues Occidental Petroleum Over Anadarko Deal

(RTTNews) - Activist investor Carl Icahn has filed a lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) over its deal to buy rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC), and may seek a special meeting to remove and replace board members.

Icahn, whose firms own about $1.6 billion of Occidental stock, said in the lawsuit that Occidental's recent deal to buy Anadarko for $38 billion "fundamentally misguided and hugely overpriced," and said "management wanted to avoid a vote at almost all costs."

Meanwhile, Occidental said it would "respond in due course" to the lawsuit and looks forward to closing the merger. "Occidental is committed to maximizing long-term value for all shareholders, and our Board and management team continually evaluate opportunities to that end," the company said in a statement.

Occidental's offer for Anadarko topped one by Chevron Corp and included a $10 billion financing deal with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A, BRKa).

The lawsuit seeks to review documents that detail the sale of preferred stock to Berkshire and information on an agreed sale of Anadarko's Africa Assets to Total SA for $8.8 billion.

According to the lawsuit, Icahn may seek to call a special meeting of shareholders to remove and replace directors, and believes Occidental should have been a seller rather than a buyer in the current market.