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Allergan reaches truce
with suitors on special shareholder meeting
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[September 16, 2014]
(Reuters) - Allergan Inc
and its suitors Pershing Square Capital Management and
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc settled their pending
litigation before the Delaware Court of Chancery and
agreed to hold a special shareholder meeting on the
originally scheduled date, Dec. 18. |
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 Billionaire William Ackman's Pershing Square and Canada's Valeant
sued the maker of Botox anti-wrinkle treatment last month, alleging
that Allergan was trying to avoid a special meeting to give it time
to find an alternative deal. Allergan subsequently set the meeting
for Dec. 18.
Pershing Square, Allergan's largest shareholder with a 9.72 percent
stake, and Valeant made a hostile offer for Allergan in April. Since
then, Allergan has been fighting for investor support for its own
stand-alone plan that includes cost cuts and making an acquisition
of its own.
To force the company to the table, Ackman has been pushing for a
special meeting where he hopes to replace most board members with
his own nominees, who he expects will be more receptive to Valeant's
bid.
Allergan said late Monday it continues to believe that Valeant's
unsolicited exchange offer is "grossly inadequate" and urged
shareholders to reject the offer.
Allergan's shareholders of record Oct. 30 will be entitled to
receive notice of and vote at the Dec. 18 meeting.
Allergan is pursuing an existing litigation in California but will
no longer seek the invalidation of any special meeting requests or
seek to postpone or cancel the meeting, Pershing Square said early
Tuesday.
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In August, Allergan filed a civil lawsuit in California, accusing
Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Ackman of violating securities laws by
using insider information as they prepared a takeover bid for the
drug company.
"Valeant and Pershing Square believe that Allergan's claims and
request for relief in the California litigation are entirely without
merit and will ultimately be rejected," Pershing Square said in a
statement.
(Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar
Warrier)
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