LOS ANGELES (CN) - Allergan on Wednesday appealed a federal court order that boosted billionaire William Ackman's attempted takeover of the Botox maker.
U.S. District Judge David Carter on Tuesday rejected Allergan's request to prevent the billionaire's hedge fund from voting its shares.
On Wednesday, Allergan filed its notice of appeal to the 9 th Circuit .
Carter on Tuesday granted in part and denied in part Irvine-based Allergan's request for a preliminary injunction against Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund and Canadian firm Valeant Pharmaceutical International.
Allergan asked the court in August to block Valeant and Ackman's attempt to oust the Allergan board of directors and install executives more receptive to a merger. The Allegan board rejected an unsolicited offer more than two years ago.
Describing the legal drama as a "live battle for corporate control that has spilled over into the courts," Carter wrote in his in a Nov. 4 order that it is difficult to predict what would happen if Ackman's hedge fund company voted its 9.7 percent stake in Allergan.
He declined to block Pershing from voting its stake at the Dec. 18 Allergan shareholder meeting.
"Because the parties' moves change the market landscape every day, there is no good way for the court to fairly evaluate whether and how Allergan's shareholders and other investors will be harmed or benefited by an injunction enjoining PS Fund 1 [Pershing Square] from voting," Carter wrote.
The ruling comes with strings attached. Pershing Square and Valeant must make "corrective disclosures" to the court, addressing Allergan's allegation that Ackman's hedge fund secured its stake in the Botox maker without disclosing its plan to make a $54 billion offer for the company in June.
Pershing told Bloomberg News that it "intends to promptly supplement its proxy statement disclosure in the manner determined by the court."
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