Pickens Drops Bid for Shamrock

Investors led by T. Boone Pickens Jr. dropped a tender offer for Diamond Shamrock Corp. on Monday after the energy company rejected a proposal to make the bid an all-cash deal worth $2.1 billion.

Diamond Shamrock’s board voted Sunday to reject the $15-a-share offer and proceed with its own plan to buy back 20 million common shares for $17 apiece as part of a restructuring that would split the company in two.

Diamond Shamrock filed the tender offer with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

Pickens spokesman David Batchelder would not say whether his investor group still plans to try to take over Diamond Shamrock.

The Pickens group, a partnership known as Lucky Partners, which owns about 4.5% of Diamond Shamrock’s stock, would have exchanged securities for the remaining shares.