Ackman low on ADP pull
Bill Ackman is going to have to make nice with a lot of Automatic Data Processing’s shareholders over the next two months.
The activist hedgie is trying to win three spots on the payroll-processor’s board — while being able to vote only 2 percent of the company’s common shares, according to regulatory filings.
This is despite Ackman having an 8.3 percent economic stake in ADP.
The hedgie faces an uphill battle, as his investment in ADP was not received warmly by the company.
Chief Executive Carlos Rodriguez called Ackman a “spoiled brat” in a televised interview last month and ADP said last week that it would not expand its board to accommodate Ackman’s nominees.
Early last month, Ackman’s Pershing Square hedge fund announced the 8.3 percent stake in ADP — composed mostly of derivative contracts.
But in order to vote that sizeable block, Ackman would have had to convert those derivatives into shares by Sept. 8.
The $9.7 billion hedge fund did not front the estimated $2 billion needed to convert the remaining stake, sources confirmed to The Post Monday following a CNBC report.
As of Aug. 31, Pershing Square had 8.8 million common shares — or 2 percent — of ADP’s outstanding shares.
ADP shares closed Monday at $107.50, down 91 cents.
Reps from ADP and Pershing Square declined to comment.