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Icahn Tells CNBC He's Standing Firm On $36 a Share Offer For Lear

CNBC.com
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Billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC that he is standing firm on his $36 dollar-per-share bid forauto parts maker Lear Corp.

"There's no way we're going to raise it," Ichan said in an interview with Maria Bartiromo. The offer from Icahn's American Real Estate Partners values Lear at nearly $2.9 billion.

"We’re offering to pay double what the stock traded for eight to nine months ago," Icahn said. "If I don’t get (Lear) they might be doing me a favor and I can go on to something else."

Lear, which has faced criticism for accepting Icahn's buyout offer, last week delayed a shareholder vote on the deal until July 12.

Lear said it wanted more time to persuade investors of the merits of Icahn's offer, which proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholders Services said they should oppose and a major stockholder, Pzena Investment Management, has criticized as too low.

Icahn is Lear's largest shareholder.

During his interview on CNBC, Icahn also weighed in on recent volatility in the markets. He said the problems at two Bear Stearns hedge funds are a "small manifestation" of what's going on with world liquidity.

"I think the real problem is an obvious one, yet something you don’t want to deal with," he said. "There is $15 trillion floating around the globe. One day we're going to wake up and realize that the $15 trillion is not going to come back here.  Once that happens you have a problem."