Icahn raises bid for Clorox

Hostile-takeover king Carl Icahn raised his bid for Clorox on Wednesday after the cleaning-products company rejected his initial offer as too small. The new $80 per share offer from the US billionaire investor, who already owns 9.4 percent of Clorox, values the company at $10.7 billion. Icahn's opening $76.50 per share bid on Friday implied a valuation of $10.2 billion. Shares of the Oakland, California-based company jumped 3.7 percent in early trading after the new offer was announced. On Monday, Clorox's board unanimously rejected Icahn's initial offer, adopting a so-called "poison pill" provision to make a hostile takeover more difficult and calling Icahn's bid "neither credible nor adequate". "We believe this statement to be disingenuous," Icahn retorted in a letter to the Clorox board on Wednesday, which was included in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In the letter, Icahn outlined his higher bid and also pledged to set aside $5.2 billion in an escrow account if Clorox accepted his offer as way to bolster the "credibility" of his offer. Icahn, who is famed for his aggressive buyout tactics, has said that he made the offer for Clorox in hopes of starting a bidding war for the company and attracting even more lucrative offers from elsewhere. Clorox makes a variety of consumer products sold under different brand names around the world but is best known for its household bleach and cleaning products. It had over $5.5 billion in sales last year.