Pershing Square and Valeant joined forces in February 2014 to pursue a potential transaction with Allergan. The pairing of a strategic party with an activist hedge fund to make a hostile bid has been touted as a new takeover technique for today's M&A market. A troubling facet of the Pershing Square/Valeant alliance, however, involved Pershing Square building a stake in Allergan stock for several months before Valeant publicly announced a tender offer for Allergan in June 2014. The share accumulation technique was attacked by Allergan as a violation of the securities laws regulating tender offers and proxy disclosure.