Carl Icahn Highlights: Ulterior Motive, The Blackstone Group L.P. (BX)’s Alliance, The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (HAIN)’s Stake & More

Editor’s Note: The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP), Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN), The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)

Carl Icahn’s Ulterior Motive: He Might Want Apple To Buy Nuance (Cult of Mac)
Investment tycoon Carl Icahn has been bullish on Apple Inc. lately. In mid-August, Icahn unexpectedly tweeted that Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP), his diversified holding company, believed Apple to be “extremely undervalued.” Immediately, share prices jumped 5.6%. The next week, Icahn announced on Twitter that he and Tim Cook would be meeting in September to discuss a larger buyback program of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares. That’s all nice, but Icahn is a business magnate, not an Apple fanboy. So what the heck is he up to here? A new theory being put forward by some investors is that Icahn has ulterior motives for his sudden Apple love affair: he wants Apple to buy Nuance, a company Icahn has a large stake in.

Icahn and Blackstone may for an alliance for Dell Bid (MarketsPress)
Carl Icahn and The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) could team up and pool resources together, causing trouble for Michael Dell as he tries to buy out Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL). Icahn has recently indicated that he would be willing to enter into an alliance with Blackstone Group LP to bid better for Dell Inc. On Monday, Icahn was quoted saying that he has begun with preliminary talks with Blackstone. Both The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) and Icahn have previously made offers for the company which could be higher than the $24.4 billion which Michael Dell and his partner, private-equity firm Silver Lake had declared.

Icahn sells half his stake in Hain Celestial (Newsday)
Carl Icahn, one of the largest and most prominent shareholders in natural foods and products maker The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), has unloaded roughly half his 15 percent stake in the company. Icahn and his related companies have sold 3,650,000 shares of common stock in the Lake Success company to investment bank Jefferies LLC, Hain Celestial said in a news release Tuesday. Jefferies will act as the underwriter in the sale of the shares; The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) will not make any proceeds from the share offering.

Carl Icahn Turns Activist on Nuance Communications (Wall Street Journal)
Carl Icahn has a new target: Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN). The activist investor reported a stake in the speech-recognition software maker in April. Late Thursday Mr. Icahn went from being a passive holder to an active investor, signaling he may seek board seats. He wasn’t immediately available for comment Friday. That has the stock up 4.6% to $19.15 on Friday, reversing four straight days of declines. Mr. Icahn is the biggest shareholder in Nuance, holding 16.9% stake.

Latest Business News: Aug 31st, 7pm (Wochit)