Ackman blamed for ‘driving’ Allergan into foreign hands

Bill Ackman really got under his skin.

Four months after the hedge fund activist and Botox maker Allergan ended their bruising takeover battle, Allergan’s longtime former leader, David Pyott, launched a new attack on his old nemesis during what was supposed to be a sleepy hearing on Capitol Hill.

Pyott, who stepped down as CEO and chairman in March, called Ackman the leader of a “wolf pack” that chased the company into the hands of a foreign owner. His comment came during a Senate committee hearing on tax rules that give foreign-owned companies a potential advantage in buying US-based companies.

Pyott, whose company was sold to Ireland-based Actavis for $66 billion, also took aim at securities laws that allow activists to quietly build stakes in companies before launching their attack.

Ackman’s Pershing Square took a 9.7 percent stake in Allergan, then convinced other investors to support its efforts, Pyott told senators Thursday.

“The goal was to kind of create a wolf pack,” he said, using a term coined by his lawyer Marty Lipton, the most well-known opponent of well-heeled activists.

Pyott joins a growing chorus of critics who say shareholder activists have gone too far as they overturn boards, lay off employees, slash expenses and ink deals with foreign companies to save money on taxes.

But few have been as bold as Ackman, whose $19 billion Pershing Square last year teamed up with Canadian drugmaker Valeant in a controversial gambit to launch a $55 billion takeover of Allergan. The deal marked the first time a major company had teamed with a hedge fund to take over another company.

Pyott called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the Ackman-Valeant pursuit, saying the unusual pairing was a “possible breach of insider trading laws and other securities regulations.”

Numerous lawyers, including Pershing Square’s, have said the trading activity did not constitute insider trading.

With more than $100 billion to throw around, shareholder activists have become a growing — and feared — force in the corporate landscape, where they leave no stone unturned in their quest for profits.

Pyott himself was no sheep led to slaughter. To fend off Valeant and Ackman, he ran what was called the “scorchiest of scorched earth” campaigns in a grueling eight-month battle.

He sued Ackman, Pershing Square and Valeant for insider trading. When his legal strategies hit a wall, Pyott inked a $66 billion deal with Actavis, which dropped the insider-trading suit after letting the CEO go.

Pyott walked away with $534 million — making him what one investor called “the richest disgruntled former employee the world has ever seen.”

Ackman, who earned almost $1 billion last year, declined to comment.