It’s never a good sign when a top executive leaves a company citing “family reasons,” and that just happens to be the excuse given for CFO Jeff Edwards’ departure from Allergan (AGN) today.But Citigroup’s Liav Abraham says not to worry–especially as it regards Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ (VRX) hostile bid. Sometimes family reasons are just family reasons:
Bloomberg We are surprised by the unexpected announcement of the resignation of Allergan's longtime and well-respected CFO, Jeff Edwards, given the hostile takeover attempt by Valeant Pharmaceuticals currently under way. Our conversation with the company following the announcement reinforces our view that Mr. Edwards' decision to hand over the reins to Jim Hindman does not suggest a disagreement amongst Allergan's senior management team regarding the strategic path forward for the company in the midst of Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ hostile bid, but rather that Mr. Edwards' decision, while untimely, was made for personal reasons alone…
Jim Hindman a natural successor as CFO — Mr. Hindman has up until now held various senior leadership positions in Allergan's finance organization, and has worked closely with Mr. Edwards over the years. His current role of Senior Vice President, Treasury, Risk and Investor Relations was one that was held by Mr. Edwards at Allergan in the past…
While Mr. Edwards' departure as CEO CFO is untimely and may naturally raise questions amongst the investment community regarding a potential change in stance and/or strategy at Allergan with respect to the ongoing Valeant Pharmaceuticals hostile takeover, we believe that the company's Board will continue to resist Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ attempts due to the value of the current bid, in addition to the opposing business models of the two companies.
Shares of Allergan have dropped 1.6% to $155.76 at 3:47 p.m., while Valeant Pharmaceuticals has dropped 2.3% to $109.66.
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