CVR Energy is relying on PR counsel as the nitrogen fertilizer producer is targeted by activist investor Carl Icahn.
Icahn owns 14.5% of the company and floated a hostile $2.6B tender offer last month which has been rejected by CVR’s board. Icahn appealed to CVR shareholders with an open letter March 14 blasting CVR’s PR efforts which he says are criticizing his record and intentions.
“On March 12 a major news organization published commentary about my record and intentions at your company which prompt me to respond directly to you,” Icahn wrote, referencing a piece published by Reuters Breakingviews. “The piece was so fraught with inflammatory rhetoric and reasons not to render your stock that I would not be surprised if it was written by a PR firm paid for by CVR.”
Abernathy MacGregor Group is counseling CVR amid Icahn’s overtures. Steve Eames is VP of corporate affairs at CVR.
The company volleyed back at Icahn’s letter a few hours later, noting “it is absurd for Mr. Icahn to suggest, as he does in his letter, that a reputable news organization such as Reuters Breakingviews would compromise its standards and allow a public relations agency to plant stories.”
In the Reuters piece, Christopher Swann wrote, "Companies on the receiving end of his tactics, like CVR Energy, have all the more reason to spurn Icahn."