By Gary McWilliams
HOUSTON, July 18 (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn onThursday formally launched a proxy fight against OccidentalPetroleum to win control of four board seats, accordingto a regulatory filing, after talks with the oil company's chiefexecutive failed to reach an agreement.
Icahn, who owns 4.4% of Occidental shares, last month saidhe planned to launch a proxy fight to oust and replace fourOccidental directors. Icahn has blasted the Houston-based oiland gas producer for failing to give owners a say on itsproposed $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum,which he has called "misguided and hugely overpriced."
"Occidental refused to craft a compromise and so we'llhappily take our case to stockholders which the company shouldhave done with this bet-the-company transaction," Icahn toldReuters on Thursday.
"We prefer to have peace and have a great record in reachingsettlements," Icahn added.
Occidental, whose board of directors has 10 members, did notrespond to requests for comment. In its own recent securitiesfilings, the company called the Icahn requests "not in the bestinterests of Occidental or its shareholders" and urged they notsign the solicitation.
In the proxy filing with the Securities and ExchangeCommission, Icahn identified his four candidates for the board:John Hofmeister, the former president of Shell Oil Company; AlanLeFevre, the former finance chief of consumer goods firm JardenCorp; and Nicholas Graziano and Andrew Langham, two executiveswith Icahn's own investment company.
Icahn spoke with Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub on July 10 inan 11th-hour effort to reach a compromise and avert a proxyfight. His associates also spoke with Occidental executivestwice earlier this month, according to the filing.
If Icahn's proxy solicitation is successful in forcing aspecial meeting of shareholders, the record date for a vote onthe Icahn candidates could be scheduled as soon as September orOctober.
Icahn expects to schedule meetings with Occidentalshareholders in the next four weeks to press the case for boardseats. The proxy fight is unlikely to stop the Anadarko deal,but would influence the pace and direction of billions ofdollars of asset sales that will result after the acquisitioncloses.
Occidental has proposed selling Anadarko's Africa assets,including a proposed Mozambique liquefied natural gas projectestimated to cost $20 billion. Anadarko also owns significantoffshore wells and production platforms in the U.S. Gulf ofMexico.
Freeport-McMoRan, which in 2016 sold some of those sameoffshore assets to Anadarko, did so while under pressure fromIcahn's investment fund, which held seats on the mining firm'sboard.
Anadarko shareholders are expected vote in favor of theOccidental deal Aug. 8.(Reporting by Gary McWilliamsEditing by Leslie Adler)
