Activist Bill Ackman has the votes to call a special shareholders meeting of Allergan shareholders, and a federal trial isn’t going to stop him, a California federal judge said Thursday.
Judge David Carter mentioned the votes in a order denying the botox maker’s motion to expedite its case against Ackman, his Pershing Square hedge fund and Valeant, a Canadian drug company.
Allergan claims the trio broke insider trading rules by taking “substantial steps” to engage in a hostile takeover before Ackman revealed Pershing Square owned 9.7 percent of Allergan shares.
Allergan requested an expedited trial, saying a verdict was necessary before calling the special shareholders’ meeting Ackman has been organizing to oust six of the company’s directors.
The ousters would pave the way for acceptance of Valeant’s $53 billion offer.
Allergan has to call a special shareholders’ meeting within 120 days after at least 25 percent of shareholders request the meeting in a Delaware court.
Ackman is ready to go, according to Carter. “They have collected the required number of forms and intend to request a special meeting,” the judge noted.
Ackman and Valeant have argued that the lawsuit was merely an attempt to delay the meeting.
But federal courts aren’t the place to resolve “intra-corporate disputes that might be better left to the dynamic of the free market or the state court,” Carter ruled.