Yahoo Finance America's 'sleeping' payroll giant hits back at Bill Ackman's turnaround plan
Tensions between billionaire Bill Ackman and payroll processing giant ADP have intensified after the US company said the activist investor's latest plan for the group "betrays a fundamental lack of understanding".
Mr Ackman's investment fund Pershing Square, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in May having floated in Amsterdam in 2014, this week issued a 168-page report calling for major change at the "lethargic and inefficient sleeping giant" in which it has an 8pc stake.
ADP, which handles millions of pay cheques and has a market capitalisation of almost $50bn ($38.3bn), hit back at the findings - saying it strongly disagrees with the analysis and "is not resting on its laurels."
The relationship between the activist investor and ADP's boss Carlos Rodriguez has been strained in recent weeks, with Mr Rodriguez calling the hedge fund manager a "spoiled brat" in a television interview earlier this month.
His comment, referring to Mr Ackman's push for leadership changes and more board seats at the company, was a rare example of a chief executive publicly blasting one of its major shareholders. Pershing said in a filing on Monday that Mr Rodriguez had accidentally emailed Mr Ackman earlier this month saying he did not find the investor's willingness to work with him credible.
The spat comes as Pershing Square unveiled its first set of half-year numbers since listing in London, noting that some good investments had been offset by "mark-to-market losses in several holdings" including its bet on weight-loss company Herbalife.
The company lost -1.7pc net of fees for the year to August 15, it said, with its holding in Canadian fast food firm Restaurant Brands International the best performer.
Its shares had slipped 2pc on Friday.
