Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises Signs Confidentiality Agreement With Dell

Icahn Enterprises L.P. (Nasdaq:IEP), controlled by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, said Monday it entered a confidentiality agreement with Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL), days after the activist-investor announced he would push to replace the world’s No. 3 personal computer maker’s board and pursue “years of litigation” if it refused to accept his demand for a refinancing.

In a brief statement, Icahn Enterprises also said it "looks forward to commencing its review of Dell's confidential information."

Dell agreed in early February to be taken private in a $24.4 billion deal by its founder and CEO, Michael Dell, and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. That deal values Dell at $13.65 per share and is expected to close before the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2014. But several large shareholders have opposed the buyout price as too low.

Dell’s shares rose 1 percent to $14.30 in Monday’s premarket trading, remaining well above the offer price of $13.65.

Icahn last week disclosed that he owns a "substantial" stake in Dell. In a letter to Dell's board made public last week, he demanded that Dell pay out $15.7 billion in special dividends instead of going private.