San Francisco  - Activist-investor Carl Icahn sharpened his attack on Yahoo Monday, saying he had yet to see a company "distort, omit and twist" facts the way Yahoo did when rejecting the latest buyout proposal presented by himself and Microsoft.

Icahn made the allegations in a letter to Yahoo's shareholders after the company rebuffed the offer, which would have seen Microsoft buy its search business with Icahn controlling the remainder of the company.

The offer came less than a month before a proxy shareholder vote, in which Icahn is trying to oust the Yahoo board and its founder and chief executive Jerry Yang, charging that they sabotaged negotiations which would have seen Microsoft buy the company in a 47.5-billion- dollar deal worth 33 dollars a share.

Since Yahoo rejected the deal, the stock price has never lifted much above the 20-dollar level.

Microsoft and Icahn, the billionaire and legendary corporate raider, claimed the newly restructured deal would have offered Yahoo shareholders 33 dollars in value, but this was disputed by Yahoo.

Yahoo claimed the renewed offer was disadvantageous to shareholders since it would have left the majority of the company in the hands of Icahn's board, who had no knowledge of Yahoo's operations. Icahn said he had been willing to let Yang stay in charge and keep on a number of board members.

"Over the years I have attempted to make changes at many companies, but I have yet to see a company distort, omit and twist events and facts in the manner that Yahoo has done," Icahn said.

Icahn called Yahoo's rejection of the latest offer "another grave mistake that will be deeply regretted," and charged that Yahoo was more interested in who would run the company than in the value the deal would bring to shareholders. (dpa)