Valeant Pharmaceuticals tanks as Bill Ackman dumps stake
Shares in Valeant Pharmaceuticals tanked on Tuesday after billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's Pershing Capital Management sold its 10% stake in the company.
VALEANT PHARMA INTL
n/a
00:00 04/10/24
Pershing Square chief executive Bill Ackman and vice chairman Steve Fraidin will remain on the Valeant board until the upcoming annual meeting but will not stand for re-election.
"At its current market value, the Valeant position represented 1.5% to 3% of the various Pershing Square funds; however, the investment required a disproportionately large amount of time and resources.
"As a result, we elected to sell our investment and realise a large tax loss which will enable us to dedicate more time to our other portfolio companies and new investment opportunities."
Valeant, which manufactures and markets a broad range of branded and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter products and medical devices, has been the subject of a number of federal investigations.
Shares in the company tumbled last month as it posted a 7% drop in full-year sales and downgraded its revenue outlook for 2017.
Valeant said it was expecting revenues of $8.9bn to $9.1bn, down from at least $9.55 guided to in November last year.
At 1405 GMT, the shares were down 10% to $10.90.