Valeant extends Allergan bid deadline

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has extended the expiration date of its offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Allergan to Dec. 31, 2014.  

All other terms and conditions remain the same. Valeant's latest offer is for $72 in cash and 0.83 shares of its own stock for each share of Allergan.

Last week, as the original expiration date of Aug. 15 approached, it was reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the way Valeant and activist investor Bill Ackman have tried to buy Allergan.

The SEC investigation came less than a week after Allergan sued Valeant and Ackman's hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, for alleged securities violations.

Allergan contends that Pershing Square committed insider trading by buying nearly 10% of the Botox maker's stock in the days before Valeant offered to buy the company.

On Thursday, Pershing Square said it had done nothing wrong in partnering with Valeant in its effort to acquire Allergan in a deal now valued at about $51 billion.