NASHVILLE—The merger between Bridgestone Americas and Pep Boys—Manny Moe and Jack, threatened by a competing bid for Pep Boys from Carl Icahn, is back on again. Bridgestone subsidiary Bridgestone Retail Operations said late Friday afternoon it had matched Icahn Enterprises' offer of $15.50 per share, or approximately $863 million, while the Pep Boys board said it no longer considered the Icahn bid a "superior proposal" as defined in the Oct. 26 merger agreement it signed with Bridgestone.

Earlier in the week the agreement had threatened to go off the rails. Having received Icahn's counteroffer, the Pep Boys board at first said it probably constituted a superior proposal, then declared that it was superior and gave Bridgestone three days to match it. The Oct. 26 merger agreement called for Bridgestone to pay $835 million, or $15 per share.

In a letter to the Pep Boys board made public on Monday, Keith Cozza, president and CEO of Icahn Capital, wrote that his company was ready "to enter immediately into the exact same merger agreement that Pep Boys executed with Bridgestone Retail Operations LLC. In addition, we will enter into any reasonable further agreements that you may require in order to provide greater certainty of closing." Cozza's letter asserted that an acquisition by his firm would require no due diligence. Pep Boys had rejected a $13.50/share offer from Icahn this past September.