03.03.2018

Icahn sells before Manitowoc shares plummet

Investor Carl Icahn sold $31.3 million worth of shares in Manitowoc Cranes shortly before Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imported steel, which caused equipment company shares such as Manitowoc to plummet, was announced.

According to financial reports Icahn - who was a special advisor to Trump and a keen supporter -sold his shares in the company, which is a major steel consumer, at between $32 and $34 a share. Today they are $26.93!
He is reported to have started selling on February 12th – shortly before the idea was mentioned.

Icahn was instrumental in the break up of Manitowoc when he acquired a 7.7 percent stake in the company at the end of 2014. His threats caused the company to split its Crane and Foodservices divisions into two publicly quoted companies. See Manitowoc splits

Vertikal Comment

Imposing a 25 percent tariff on imported steel will of course substantially raise the cost of all steel for US based manufacturing operations, reducing margins for locally made products and giving imported products made from steel a substantial advantage.

While the aim is to save a few US steel jobs it is likely to put hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs at risk and bolster older less efficient US steel plants over those US steel makers that have invested heavily in more modern and efficient plants.

If steel dumping is going on, then those companies guilty of it ought to be wheedled out and tariffs imposed on them specifically, rather than a blanket ban. Perhaps this will occur before this measure becomes law?