Ackman, other shareholders ask Allergan to call special meeting

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors owning 31 percent of ALLERGAN (AGN.NY)shares have asked the Botox maker to call a special shareholder meeting, activist shareholder William Ackman said on Friday, giving the hedge fund manager a victory in his fight to acquire the Botox maker.

Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Allergan's largest shareholder, said 35 shareholders including some of Allergan's "longest-standing" and "largest" investors handed in paperwork on Friday to compel Allergan to call the meeting.

Pershing Square and Valeant Pharmaceutical made a $52 billion hostile offer for Allergan in April.

Ackman has been working for months to sign up the shareholders and said it signals a win in the increasingly bitter battle with Allergan for control. Allergan, under its bylaws, is required now to call the meeting no later than Dec. 20, the hedge fund said.

Pershing Square also said on Friday that it filed a lawsuit in Delaware to require Allergan to schedule the meeting, anticipating that the company would likely fight doing so as it tries to avoid selling to Valeant. Its cash and stock offer is now worth $49 billion.

Allergan has dug in defending itself since the April 22 offer, and Ackman had to turn to other shareholders for help to call a special meeting. He hopes to replace the bulk of Allergan board members with his own slate of directors who might agree to the takeover deal.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Caroline Humer; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)

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