An exasperated Carl Icahn has urged HP Inc shareholders who agree with a proposed merger with Xerox to lobby HP’s directors and tell them to accept the deal.

Frustrated by the impasse surrounding the takeover offer, Icahn has called the HP’s standalone restructuring plan “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.

The activist investor said the company’s refusal could be a delaying tactic to hold the “lucrative” positions of its executives.

Xerox has made a US$33.5 billion cash-and-stock offer to HP, a company more than three times its size, but the company has rebuffed Xerox’s bid.