Boston, MA 04/24/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) is a $44 billion company with corporate headquarters in Quebec, Canada. The company manufactures and markets various pharmaceutical products.
It recently placed a bid to acquire Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN). Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) teamed with investor Bill Ackman , who runs a hedge fund called Pershing Square Capital Management, to place a bid for Allergan.
But Pershing Square Capital Management is not the only prominent hedge fund that highly rates Valeant in terms of big investment. The company is teaming with many prominent hedge funds that have not only been increasing their stake, but also have long positions.
Several hedge funds rank Valeant among their top 10 stock investments, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS).
Prominent hedge funds in Valeant
ValueAct Capital Management LP is one big hedge fund that has held stake in Valeant for years. The firm entered an activist stake in Valeant about eight years ago. ValueAct held about 18.9 million shares of Valeant as of the end of 2013, according to regulatory documents. The firm’s entry into Valeant helped it to support the hiring of a new CEO and structuring the CEO’s compensation plan.
Another prominent hedge fund that has long been bullish on Valeant is Viking Global Investment LP. According to regulatory filing, Viking, a fund managed by Andreas Halvorsen, held 8.3 million shares in Valeant and about 1.4 million shares in Allergan as of the end of 2013.
Several other prominent funds including Maverick Capital Ltd., Lone Pine Capital LLC, Ratan Capital Management LP and Hound Partners LLC hold shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX).
Bid for Allergan
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) offered to pay $48.30 in cash for each share of Allergan and offer 0.83 of its own shares to take over the company. The deal values Allergan at $46 billion or $152.89 per share. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Mr. Ackman that has teamed up with Valeant to acquired Allergan, recently invested $4 billion in Allergan to acquire 9.7 percent stake.
