By Jacob Wolinsky. Originally published at ValueWalk.
The Senate did a late Friday night dump of a huge amount of emails related to Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) and its investigations. We are sifting through the documents but wanted to highlight a few in particular we found interesting on the topic, specifically related to Bill Ackman and former Valeant and especially former CEO Michael Pearson and some emails Valeant to Pershing Square including conversations related to Hillary Clinton, John Hempton and other juicy topics. There are some really good nuggets here whether you are reading this to see what happened behind the scenes or enjoy the DealBreaker style gossip. See some of the emails below.
Ackman this is urgent!
—–Original Message—-From:
William A. Ackman
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2015 01 :44 PM Eastern Standard Time
To: Schiller, Howard ( ; J. Michael Pearson @’-
Subject:
Every minute that you wait before sending out a press release, another shareholder capitulates on Valeant and does not come back.
Ackman on more PR
From: William A. Ackman
Friday, March 18, 2016 8:28 AM
‘J. Michael Pearson & ‘Laurie Little’
Steve Fraidin
We need to put out more press releases with good fundamental news. The AARP coverage for Jublia should be announced along with
the Walmart award and the podiatry award. This could be two or three releases with AARP going today.
Let’s sync up about other good fundamental news.
Bill
William
Ackman urging Pearson to have more analyst days
William A. Ackman
2/29/2016 8:55:13 PM
Thank you for the time today. We greatly appreciate the work you are doing on behalf of us and other shareholders.
I strongly encourage you to have an analyst sit down tomorrow. You come across very well and I think will be very comforting for analysts.
Thank you.
Bill
From:
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Mike,
Jordan Rubin n@~
Sunday, December 13, 2015 9:11 PM
‘mike.pearson son@·William
A. Ackman n@~
FW: Follow up
You should reach out to Nick Uehleck (see below email chain). Nick is a staff member on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, which has jurisdiction over Medicare law. Nick’s responsibilities include Medicare Part-D. Nick and his team will be important in driving the drug pricing debate in Washington And will be critical to legislating any changes in law.
I met him Friday and he is very sympathetic to your side of the story (off the record). He is very pro -business and wants to an adult conversation about the issues. I explained the economic and social logic of your business plan and he got it immediately.
Other meetings I had include PhRMA’s Federal Advocacy SVP, Chuck Clapton. You should know that PhRMA is throwing you under the bus. I would consider building a relationship with them.
I also met with a left wing think tank. Their analyst presented a proposal to regulate the return on capital for Valeant and other companies that (to paraphrase) “buy drugs, raise price, and don’t invest in research”. His ideas didn’t seem workable but his group, the Center for American Progress, is closely connected to the Clinton campaign I wouldn’t dismiss the threat entirely.
Good luck Wednesday.
-Jordan
Ackman warns former CEO Mike Pearson of “death spiral”
William A. Ackman
Pearson, Mike
Schiller, Howard
10/27/2015 1 :44:54 AM
I am sure you have had a long day. I would like to speak with you at your convenience so try
me on anytime.
I don’t think you are handling this correctly and the company is at risk of getting into a death spiral as a result.
I would like to help.
Sincerely
Bill
Ackman on accounting
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
William A. Ackman an@~
Tuesday, March 15, 2016 10:59 AM
‘J. Michael Pearson’ rson@~
I think it would be helpful if the company does a reconciliation between GAAP and non GAAP earnings on the call. There will be many new potential shareholders on the call as well as media who do not understand the company’s approach. Knock em dead!
Bill
Ackman tells Valeant he will try to cut back on the press
Mike,
I think that we can be very helpful to you and the company in reviewing next week’s earnings presentation and helping you prepare for the questions that you will inevitably receive. We worked very well together during Allergan on the same and would love the opportunity to help here.
You had previously agreed to run by press releases before you issue them. While this is obviously up to you, I would strongly encourage you to get input from Steve Fraidin on announcements like the one on B&O. While we are happy with the outcome, it was an opportunity for positive press that was missed. The timing was wrong, and the confidential nature of the settlement continues to give fodder to the company’s critics about transparency. Steve also has some very good thoughts on how you manage disclosure concerning on a covenant default due to the late 10-K filing. I encourage you to speak directly.
I will help on the other side by minimizing if not eliminating any public statements I make about Valeant.
Sincerely,
Bill
Ackman to Valueact on FT
Tuesday, March 15, 2016 8:15 PM
J. Michael Pearson ( rson@-; Bob Ingram
); Mason Morfit – Value Act
Steve Fraidin in@~
Leaks
Our PR team received a call from the FT. The FT is hearing differing views on the board regarding the extent to which Valeant reset expectations today. They heard that Pershing Square believed that the company should not have reset expectations so much while Valueact wanted to be more conservative. They heard that most executives were aligned with Pershing Square and that these complications led to some of the mix ups with the numbers. They heard that several board members did not want Steve on the board. We of course are not commenting.
In that we did not receive the numbers until very late in the day, we are puzzled as to how the press has the above story. They say they have sufficient sourcing to run the story which means they have talked to more than one person in all likelihood.
Number one: one or more directors/employees is clearly leaking to the FT and other media. Without being in anyway accusatory, Mason please check with Jeff Ubben to make sure he is not speaking with the media.
This is very very damaging to the company. Directors and employees need to be reminded of their confidentiality obligations and the risk that this creates at the company.
Thank you.
Bill
Valeant – Ackman calling Hempton “certifiably crazy”
Mike and Mason
Happy Thanksgiving.
Please see below from my PR folks. The idea that Ubben blames me for the decline in VRX stock is absurd. I don’t care but I think it is not good for Valeant.
I had never previously heard of Andrew Left and I don’t think his short position was motivated by animus for me. I just think he wanted to make money. With respect to John Hempton, I have never met him or spoken to him. He happens to be long Herbalife and certifiably crazy. How can I be responsible for his behavior?
With respect to my email apology for the WSJ article, I don’t understand what value it brings Valeant for the recipients to have shared it with the FT. I did my best to shape the WSJ article in a way that would be good for Valeant and I didn’t love the outcome. I therefore apologized. Isn’t that the appropriate thing to do?
Bill
Hempton responded to the email with this blog post
See the full docket in PDF here ->SCA_Combined_Unsealed_Exhibits_4_27_16
The post Valeant – Ackman Emails: We Need More Press Releases; Hempton “certifiably crazy”; Risk Of “Death Spiral” And More! appeared first on ValueWalk.
Sign up for ValueWalk’s free newsletter here.
