Talisman Energy to add two Icahn nominees to board

(Reuters) - Canadian oil producer Talisman Energy Inc (Toronto:TLM.TO - News) (NYSE:TLM - News) said it will appoint two nominees of activist investor Carl Icahn to its board as part of an agreement with its second-biggest shareholder.

Talisman's U.S.-listed shares rose 4 percent in premarket trading on Monday.

Icahn first revealed his stake in Talisman, a chronic underperformer now restructuring its operations to lower costs and boost share price, in October. He currently holds 7.37 percent, according to the company's latest filing.

Under the agreement, one of the new directors will sit on Talisman's CEO succession committee. The oil producer has previously said that Chief Executive Hal Kvisle intends to step down in 2014.

Icahn has agreed to support Talisman's director nominees at the 2014 annual meeting, the company said.

Samuel Merksamer and Jonathan Christodoro, who will join Talisman's board this month, are managing directors at Icahn Capital L.P., a unit of Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NasdaqGS:IEP - News).

Talisman's shares closed at C$12.43 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday.

(Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)