Carl Icahn raises stake in Cheniere Energy to 9.6 percent

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Jonathan Stempel

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn, already the biggest investor in Cheniere Energy Inc, on Monday said he raised his stake in the liquefied natural gas company to 9.6 percent less than one month after two Icahn directors were appointed to the company's board.

Icahn Capital said in a regulatory filing that it owns 9.59 percent of the Houston-based company, having raised its stake from 8.2 percent in August. The filing, made with the Securities and Exchange Commission, shows that Icahn now owns 22.7 million shares, up from 19.4 million shares in August.

Icahn paid between $53.60 a share and $54.75 a share for the additional shares, the filing shows.

Cheniere's share price, which has dropped nearly 21 percent in the last month, ended regular trading at $54.14 on Monday. The stock price rose 2.43 percent in after-hours trading after news that Icahn had increased his stake.

Icahn, one of the industry's most closely watched activist investors, has long made big bets on companies and often pushes management to perform better.

Last month, only weeks after Icahn disclosed his stake and said he wanted to talk to management, Cheniere appointed Jonathan Christodoro and Samuel Merksamer, both directors at Icahn Enterprises, to its board.

Icahn was not immediately available to comment on Monday about why he raised his stake.

Hedge funds Baupost Group, Viking Global Investors, PointState Capital, Lone Pine Capital and D.E. Shaw also rank among Cheniere's top 10 investors.

But the company also has detractors, with famed short-seller Jim Chanos announcing on CNBC television last week that he is betting the company's share price will fall.

Chanos said that demand for liquefied natural gas is no longer growing and that the LNG space is a "looming disaster"

(Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Steve Orlofsky)

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