By Ben Fox Rubin
William Ackman has a warning for Allergan Inc.'s leadership:
Just saying no is a bad idea.
Less than a day after the activist investor disclosed he has
teamed up with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. in an
unsolicited offer to buy Allergan--maker of wrinkle fighter
Botox--for $46 billion, he cast a warning to Allergan's leadership
if they don't want to negotiate. He said that part of what he does
is compel companies to "do the right thing for shareholders."
"And we have all kinds of ways of making that happen," he said
at an investor presentation in Manhattan on Tuesday. He later
added, "We will do that here, we are committed to doing that here
and we have an enormous financial and reputational" investment in
making that happen.
The comments come as Mr. Ackman is trying to push a deal forward
by taking a nearly 10% stake in Allergan, worth about $4 billion,
his biggest investment ever. Quebec-based Valeant, which owns
brands such as Bausch & Lomb, had been trying woo Allergan for
some time, people familiar with the matter said, when Mr. Ackman
approached it about working together on a deal.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com
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