Kirk Kerkorian is getting into the car business. Again.
The billionaire investor disclosed Monday that he had acquired a 4.7% stake in Ford Motor Co. and launched a tender offer to acquire even more shares, raising questions about his intentions for the troubled company.
His investment firm, Tracinda Corp., purchased 100 million Ford shares for $691 million this month and offered to buy 20 million additional shares for $8.50, a 13.3% premium over Ford's closing price Friday. The added purchase would boost Kerkorian's holdings in Ford to 5.6%. News of the offer drove Ford stock up 71 cents, or 9.5%, to $8.21.
Tracinda said in a statement that Ford was starting to get "highly meaningful traction" in its turnaround and that it would continue to show "significant improvements in its results going forward."
The announcement raised speculation about the intentions of the 90-year-old tycoon, who splits his time between Beverly Hills and Las Vegas.
Kerkorian has a long history of shareholder activism in the auto industry, as an investor in General Motors Corp. and Chrysler. In both cases, after heated wrangling with company directors, Kerkorian sold his holdings.
"Initial professions notwithstanding, Kerkorian's role in the auto industry has been anything but passive," Peter Nesvold of Bear Stearns wrote.
Wall Street analysts theorized that the maverick investor might push Ford into an alliance with another automaker, seek asset sales or even covet the whole company.
In 1995, Kerkorian and his associates made an unsuccessful $22.8-billion hostile bid for Chrysler. Last year he again bid for Chrysler, then held by Germany's Daimler, for $4.5 billion. That effort, too, failed.
In 2005, Tracinda took a small stake in GM, initially describing it as passive and praising company managers. But it soon raised its stake to 9.9%, insisted that a Kerkorian advisor join the board and called for an alliance with Renault-Nissan that never materialized. In November 2006, Kerkorian sold his GM investment at a slight loss.
Analysts drew parallels between the GM escapade and Monday's announcement.
"In both cases, [Tracinda] first accumulated a stake of just under 5% and then tendered at roughly a 13% premium," Nesvold said, suggesting that a Renault-Nissan deal could be advocated again.
Analysts also said Kerkorian could sell such assets as the Ford Motor Credit financing company, though they saw that option as more remote.
