Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said Wednesday the poison-pill
defense put in place by Allergan Inc. in the wake of a bid by
larger rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals International doesn't
necessarily complicate the bidding process.
"It depends on why the poison pill was put in place. If the
poison pill is an entrenchment device then that's a bad thing," he
said in comments on CNBC.
"If the poison pill is a way for the board to explore other
alternatives and have a reasonable period of time to do that, then
that's fine," he said. "I think a pill that is put in place for
ninety days, that gives a board a way to look at other
alternatives" is reasonable.
Valeant chief executive Michael Peason, in the same interview,
said he was "disappointed" by the poison pill but was confident
that the deal would still get done, adding the due diligence and
nearly 10% share held by Ackman's Pershing Square makes the deal
much more likely.
Both Mr. Pearson and Mr. Ackman repeated they saw their moves as
a way to create shareholder value over the long term, and Mr.
Ackman noted his partnership with Valeant stipulates that "we hold"
the Allegan stock.
Mr. Ackman said there was no violation of insider trading rules
in the proposal. "We formed a partnership and the partnership has
various terms, giving us the right and the permission to go buy a
stake in Allergan," he said.
"They shared with us their interest in Allergan, their interest
in possibly taking over the company on the basis that we work with
them to assist them in doing so, and part of that involved our
buying a stake in Allergan,' he said.
Full story at www.cnbc.com
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