Investor explains bid for XO

Monday, April 1, 2002 | 11 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Financier and casino owner Carl Icahn explained in an interview last week why he offered $500 million for 50 percent of XO Communications Inc., a bid he hopes will edge out a rival offer from investor Theodore J. Forstmann.

He said he made the offer because the provider of high-speed telecommunications services can't afford to wait while bank lenders weigh a prior offer from XO's biggest shareholder, buyout firm Forstmann Little & Co., together with Telefonos de Mexico SA.

"We want to break the logjam," Icahn said in an interview with Bloomberg News. "I agree with management that the company is melting away and can't take a protracted situation."

XO is the kind of investment Icahn prizes, he said.

The company's shares, which rose as high as $66.25 in March 2000, traded last week at 8 cents.

"This is obviously not an investment for the weak of heart, but if there's a shakeout they should be one of the survivors," said Icahn. "A basic tenet of my philosophy of investing is to buy things that nobody wants."

Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported today that Icahn may boost his bid to $550 million.