FEDERAL-MOGUL HOLDINGS CORP NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of auto parts maker Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp (>> Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp) slid 5 percent on Wednesday, after Carl Icahn told Reuters that Icahn Enterprise LP (>> Icahn Enterprises LP) is considering pulling its $9.25 per share offer for the company.
Icahn was forced on Tuesday to extend the offer to Dec. 15 after failing to get enough Federal-Mogul stock owners to tender their shares in favor of the deal.
"I'm trying to figure out whether to pull it or not," Icahn said, speaking at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit in New York. Pressed further by Reuters for clarity on whether he may pull the offer, Icahn added: "That is the case. I really - I think I'm paying a very full price."
Federal-Mogul shares dropped 5 percent to $9.45 on the news.
Icahn Enterprises said in September it would buy the remaining 18 percent of Federal-Mogul that it did not already own for $9.25 per share, or around $280 million.
The offer represents a premium of 86 percent to the stock's close on Feb. 26, the last trading day before Icahn Enterprises made the initial $7 per share bid.
Icahn, which bought auto parts retailer Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack for $1 billion in February, offered $8 per share in June.
Icahn's purchase of Pep-Boys and his offer for the rest of Federal-Mogul is part of the billionaire's effort to build on his holdings within the auto parts supply chain.
"We'd like to have it private for a lot of reasons," Icahn said, referring to Federal-Mogul. "I'm still a guy from Queens and I don't like paying" too high a price, he said.
Federal-Mogul has accepted the offer but shareholders are resisting. The New York Post has reported that Gabelli Asset Management, which owns 36 percent of the shares not owned by Icahn, is prepared to offer $13 per share for the company.
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(Editing by Marguerita Choy, David Gregorio and Bernard Orr)
By Michael Flaherty and Jennifer Ablan
