Bill Ackman files for combined IPO of Pershing Square, new fund

By Arasu Kannagi Basil and Ateev Bhandari

March 10 (Reuters) – Billionaire investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square filed for U.S. initial public offerings of his hedge fund and a new fund on Tuesday, looking set to join a small club of publicly traded alternative asset managers.

The move marks a major milestone for Ackman, the activist investor who has established himself as one of Wall Street’s most-watched investors. He is known for pushing for changes in companies such as Chipotle Mexican Grill and railroad Canadian Pacific.

Ackman previously tried taking the new fund, Pershing Square USA, public in 2024, but scrapped the launch days before the debut.

Investors in the new fund will receive 20 shares in Pershing Square for every 100 shares purchased in the new fund as a sweetener.

Pershing Square USA expects to raise between $5 billion and $10 billion in the IPO and a private placement. The fund is selling shares at $50 apiece.

“While the structure is innovative, it may be overly convoluted for retail investors. Accredited and non-accredited investors alike will have to decide whether they are comfortable buying a closed-end fund that does not allow them to redeem shares for the underlying assets,” said Troy Hooper, co-head of equity capital markets, North America, at Mergermarket.

“Investors may be more willing to tolerate the risk that the fund trades below NAV if they believe the management-company stake makes up the difference. Still, it does not eliminate the core risk tied to the fund’s performance.”

The fund has secured $2.8 billion in commitments in a private placement from investors including family offices, pension funds, and insurance companies. They will receive 30 shares in Pershing Square for every 100 shares purchased in the new fund.

Pershing Square USA is expected to mimic Ackman’s existing hedge fund and will invest in 12 to 15 undervalued North American-listed companies. The fund will offer quicker access to capital and not charge performance fees to boost its appeal to a wide pool of investors.

MARKET VOLATILITY

“Oftentimes, investment banks advise companies that are considering initial public offerings to postpone their offerings during such market conditions as IPO investors discount the price they are willing to pay for a company when risk premiums rise,” Ackman said in a letter, referring to market volatility from the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

“While this advice makes sense for operating companies, the opposite is true for IPOs of investment vehicles like PSUS as the greater the stock market disruption, so the better for PSUS’s acquisition program.”

In Pershing Square’s 2025 annual report, Ackman counted “the potential for a peace dividend in the Middle East” as one of the 10 top drivers for strong economic performance in 2026.

Pershing Square had sold a 10% stake to a consortium of institutional investors and family offices at a $10.5 billion valuation in 2024 ahead of the planned IPO.

The firm had about $30.7 billion in assets under management at December end, with the bulk invested in the London-listed closed-end fund Pershing Square Holdings.

PUBLIC FIGURE

Over the years, Ackman’s investment strategy has evolved from “transactional activism”, where he pushed for changes at companies to juice the stock price, to creating value as an “insider” by joining the board of medium-sized companies like mall operator General Growth Properties, which Ackman has touted as his best investment ever.

In contrast with the usually limited public engagements seen from Wall Street’s biggest investment managers, Ackman often muses on social media platform X in elaborate posts closely watched by Wall Street as well as Capitol Hill.

“Ackman’s political commentary also adds another layer of risk. Investors are not just buying exposure to the fund’s portfolio, but also to his public persona. Any impact on his reputation could negatively affect the fund’s share price,” Hooper said.

Citigroup, UBS Investment Bank, BofA Securities, Jefferies and Wells Fargo Securities are the global coordinators and bookrunners for the combined offering.

Pershing Square and Pershing Square USA will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols “PS” and “PSUS”, respectively.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Alan Barona)