Allergan and Valeant agree on meeting date; truce for moment

Squabbling over the meeting date spurred lawsuits on both sides. Allergan, which has repeatedly termed Valeant’s bid “grossly inadequate”, has until recently done what it could to block the meeting. In August, it sued the Valeant-Ackman team, accusing the duo of insider trading; while Allergan will continue to pursue that litigation, it will stop trying to delay or cancel the meeting.
Now, with the date of the meeting finally set, both sides will gear up for the shareholder vote that could seal their fates. Valeant chief executive officer Mr Michael Pearson, for one, says he’s confident his company will prevail, noting in June that “both sides know how this will come out”.
But according to analysts, Allergan still has time to use some M&A of its own to keep shareholders loyal. Completing a deal -especially one of the tax-inversion variety – could make Allergan too big for Valeant to swallow and potentially negate the low tax rate Valeant has put forth for a combined company.