I don't know the details but from the description he'll have done through the form of a leveraged buyout.
Icahn secures a loan from a bank (or group of banks/financiers - possibly even one of his other companies, I don't know what the law is like in this regard in America) to purchase enough shares to take the company private.
Here's the 'trick' though. That loan is not secured by Icahn, it is secured by the company he has just "bought out" - the repayments of the loan being secured against the companies current capital assets and future profits. In effect Icahn gets the company to take out a loan which he uses to take control of the company.
Obviously there needs to be enough shareholders willing to sell for this to work but if the leveraged buyout offers a great enough premium then they'll normally find enough willing sellers.
Icahn secures a loan from a bank (or group of banks/financiers - possibly even one of his other companies, I don't know what the law is like in this regard in America) to purchase enough shares to take the company private.
Here's the 'trick' though. That loan is not secured by Icahn, it is secured by the company he has just "bought out" - the repayments of the loan being secured against the companies current capital assets and future profits. In effect Icahn gets the company to take out a loan which he uses to take control of the company.
Obviously there needs to be enough shareholders willing to sell for this to work but if the leveraged buyout offers a great enough premium then they'll normally find enough willing sellers.