Ackman Plans to Show Internal Herbalife Documents About China

Billionaire Bill Ackman, who will make a presentation today onHerbalife (HLF) Ltd.’s Chinese operations, said he plans to discuss company documents obtained from a former employee. Ackman believes the documents will show that Herbalife violatedChina’s laws regulating direct selling and multilevel marketing, the hedge fund manager said in an interview. He declined to elaborate. The webcast presentation is scheduled for 2 p.m. New York time. The move represents Ackman’s latest attack on Herbalife, a maker of vitamins, skin creams and meal-replacement shakes that he alleges is a pyramid scheme. Ackman revealed in December 2012 that his firm, Pershing Square Capital Management LP, had sold short more than 20 million of Herbalife’s shares in the company. Herbalife, which operates in more than 80 countries, has denied Ackman’s claims. Ackman was the subject of a New York Times story earlier this week on tactics he used to lobby lawmakers about Herbalife. The paper called his efforts an “extraordinary attempt to leverage the corridors of power -- in Washington, state capitols and city halls.” Herbalife, based in the Cayman Islands, said yesterday that Ackman’s China presentation is just an extension of that strategy.

‘Going to China’

“Having failed to make his case on Wall Street, Bill Ackman took his fight to Washington, D.C., and the states,” Barb Henderson, a spokeswoman for Herbalife, said in an e-mailed statement. “Now that those efforts to buy his way to an investigation have been exposed, he is going to China. We are confident in the strength of our consumption-based business model in China.” Herbalife shares rose 2.2 percent to $66.16 at the close yesterday in New York. The stock has declined 16 percent this year. Ackman told an investment conference in New York last month that changes to the way he shorted Herbalife meant he now stands to gain more from the nutrition company’s demise than when he started. Last year, he reduced the equity short position in the company while maintaining his bet through long-term put options. Source :  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-10/ackman-says-herbalife-china-webcast-to-reveal-internal-documents.html