Ackman says settlement with ADP "unlikely" as he defends record

Bill Ackman said a settlement with Automatic Data Processing Inc. is “unlikely” as the activist investor defended his track record amid repeated attacks by the company’s management and board. The billionaire investor wouldn’t be willing to compromise and take just one seat at the human resources outsourcer, he said, given the fight that the current board has put up to resist his push for change. Ackman has put forward three nominees, including himself, for a shareholder vote next month. “If you had a board of directors that was open to change, then one seat works,” Ackman said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters Monday.

“The company has put a line in the sand,” he said. “They’ve said ‘It’s status quo, we’re not changing anything.’”

Ackman has been meeting with ADP shareholders in recent weeks to put forward his thesis that while ADP is a good company, it’s losing ground to competitors by not performing at its full potential. Letting the proxy fight go all the way to a shareholder vote will give ADP’s investors a chance to speak, he said.

“If we end up on the board -- not by settlement but by the shareholders voting us on despite fierce opposition from management - that puts us in a very powerful position," Akcman said.

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Jr Trader Alexander Kumanov

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