ATLANTA, USA – Newell Brands Inc. announced today that on February 21, 2022, it entered into an agreement to repurchase approximately $275 million of the company’s common shares beneficially owned by Carl C. Icahn and certain of his affiliates (“Icahn Enterprises”), at a purchase price of $25.86 per share, the closing price of Newell Brands’ common shares on February 18, 2022, the last trading day prior to the execution of the purchase agreement. The company will utilize cash on hand and its existing credit facility to fund the share repurchase.
The share repurchase is expected to close no later than February 25, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, after which Icahn Enterprises is expected to own approximately 33 million common shares of Newell Brands, which represents approximately 8% of the company’s outstanding shares.
This share repurchase will be made pursuant to the existing authorization under the company’s $375 million share repurchase program, associated with Newell Brands’ planned divestiture of the Connected Home & Security business.
At the time of the announcement of this transaction, Newell Brands indicated that it anticipates using the after-tax proceeds toward both debt paydown and share repurchase, with the goal of maintaining the company’s current leverage ratio. The company continues to expect this divestiture to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
Ravi Saligram, Newell Brands President and CEO, said, “Today’s announcement of the share buyback reflects our confidence in the strategy we have been implementing, which is yielding strong results, and is expected to create tremendous shareholder value. We are thankful to Carl Icahn, Brett Icahn and their Board representatives for their support and guidance over the past several years and look forward to their continued contributions going forward.”
Carl Icahn said, “I remain an avid supporter and believer in Newell Brands’ management team and their strategy, which has strengthened the company’s underlying performance and reignited their top line momentum. I look forward to our continued partnership, as I remain one of the company’s largest shareholders, with approximately 33 million shares valued at $855 million.”
