Pershing Square names those it wants on Allergan’s board

Investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management on Monday named the six people it will nominate for spots on the board of Allergan Inc. of Irvine as it tries to buy the Botox maker.

Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. want to buy Allergan and have offered about $53 billion in cash and stock for the company. Allergan has rejected several offers and adopted a “poison pill” measure to block a takeover.

Pershing Square’s nominees are Betsy Atkins, Cathleen Black, Fredric Eshelman, Steven Shulman, David Wilson and John Zillmer. There are nine directors on Allergan’s board, and if all six nominees were elected, Pershing Square would have majority control of Allergan.

Allergan said in a statement that its current board members have “significantly more industry experience than Pershing Square’s nominees.”

“We believe today’s announcement is a further attempt by co-bidders Pershing Square and Valeant to acquire Allergan at a grossly inadequate price that substantially undervalues the company and creates significant risks and uncertainties for Allergan stockholders,” the company said.

Atkins and Black hold positions with private equity firms. Black is also a former director of Hearst Corp. and served as chancellor of New York City Schools for three months in 2011.

Eshelman is a principal at a fund that invests in early-stage healthcare companies, and he is also a former chairman and chief executive of Pharmaceutical Product Development.

Shulman is a managing director at a private equity firm. Wilson was the president and CEO of Graduate Management Admission Council, a not-for-profit education association, and Zillmer was chairman of industrial and specialty chemicals maker Univar.

Allergan shares fell $3.20, or 1.9%, to $165.85 on Monday.

Times staff writer Stuart Pfeifer contributed to this report.