Icahn's stake in Hain grows

With another major purchase of Hain Celestial Group stock this week Carl Icahn now owns nearly 6 million shares of the Melville natural foods company, totaling almost 14 percent.

Icahn bought another 60,500 shares Wednesday, paying $1.5 million.

That's his second bulk purchase of Hain in recent weeks. In three transactions from Aug. 30-Sept. 1 he bought 264,500 shares, paying $5,980,738, Securities and Exchange Commission records show.

The buy pattern goes back to May when Icahn raised his stake in Hain Celestial from 7 percent to 11.9 percent.

Icahn has said he believes Hain's shares are undervalued.

Hain in July disclosed that it made a deal with Icahn-his support for the company's new slate of directors, in exchange for Hain creating two new board seats for Icahn, including one for his son Brett.

Icahn’s shares are held under two corporate names, Icahn Capital Group LP, with 11.05 percent of Hain’s shares, and Icahn Associates Corp., with 2.76 percent.
His holdings are more than double those of the second-highest shareholder, Dimensional Fund Advisors, which has nearly 7 percent. And Icahn’s holdings eclipse those of the company’s chief executive, Irwin Simon, who has 400,000 shares, less than 1 percent of Hain’s outstanding shares.

At the moment, Hain is one of Icahn Capital’s top ten investments, with a market value of $115 million for the 11.05 percent stake. Hain is the 12th-highest investment, in market value, for Icahn’s other investment company, Icahn Associates Corp., with a value of $29 million for the 2.76 percent of Hain stock.

Hain’s shares closed Thursday at a high point for the year, at $24.40.

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