>
Fujifilm Holdings Corp. has slammed a $1 billion lawsuit on Xerox Corp., accusing it of caving to the whims of Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason in backing out of a $6.1 billion takeover deal.
The suit was fiked Monday in Manhattan federal court.
“This change of heart is undoubtedly due to external pressures,” Fujifilm said in the complaint. “Xerox has recently been subject to the whims of activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who, notwithstanding their minority ownership of Xerox shares, have yanked the Xerox Board in more directions than can be counted.”
According to Bloomberg, Xerox said in an emailed statement that it’s “extremely confident” the former board acted correctly in terminating the transaction, “due to, among other things, the continuously expanding unresolved accounting issues at Fuji Xerox,” the companies’ joint venture.
Icahn and fellow billionaire Deason had argued the Fujifilm offer undervalued Xerox. The pair, who collectively held about 13 percent of Xerox, reached a settlement with the company after months of public fighting over the merits of the Fujifilm transaction.
Under the terms of the settlement, Norwalk, Connecticut-based Xerox pulled out of the Fujifilm deal and Keith Cozza, chief executive officer of Icahn Enterprises, became the company’s chairman. John Visentin replaced Jeff Jacobson as Xerox’s CEO.
‘