Re: The Beginning of the Endgame
T Rowe Price: Ackman's warts stem from signed agreements. The agreements that created PS Fund 1 (the Ackman controlled fund that affected the alleged Insider Trading) and the agreement between Ackman and Valeant that he will take a fixed number of Valeant shares for his Allergan holdings (and thus is incentivized to minimize the price Valeant pays for Allergan). TRP is not part of any such agreement, as far as we know (and, as both know quite well, if there were any such signed agreements, these will come out in the Discovery and the poison pill will immediately hit both -- so I'm sure there aren't any).
Concurring with, being a friend with, or otherwise choosing to follow the lead of Ackman; without committing to do so in an agreement, does not a wart make. Nor is owning Valeant shares (unless the Valeant share ownership is so high as to cross accounting or SEC threshold to create some level of affiliation -- clearly not the case here).
I don't know much about the other funds, but right now there are 4 major share holders (counting PS) saying NO Salix without a shareholder vote, and not one saying YES. Allergan can make a case as to why PS voice is not the voice of the shareholders (the 'warts'), but the others -- even if they are event-driven or friends-of-Ackman -- are unquestionably legitimate shareholders with a voice to be listened to.
Dan.
