Bill Ackman led Pershing Square's $5 billion U.S. IPO on its second attempt

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has listed two of his companies on the US stock exchange in a complex combined offering, successfully completing the deal on his second attempt. Although the final result was much more modest than the investment guru's ambitions, the listing in New York was an important step in realizing Eckman's multi-year plan to turn Pershing Square into a modern analog of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

The company said investors were offered shares of the new closed-end investment fund Pershing Square USA and its parent Pershing Square Inc. in a joint listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Of the total funds raised, $2.8 billion was secured in advance in a closed-end fundraising, the outcome of which would have been canceled if Eckman had not managed to sell at least $2.2 billion more shares, Bloomberg reports.

Initially Pershing Square said that the volume of the placement could reach $10 billion. Twice less amount of funds raised indicates that investors are still skeptical about investing in closed-end funds, which are historically traded at a discount to net asset value, the Financial Times points out. For example, at the end of March, the market value of Pershing Square Holdings, an Ackman fund traded in London with $16 billion in assets under management, was about $9 billion.

The scheme of the combined IPO is that for every five purchased shares of the closed fund (Pershing Square USA), investors will receive as a bonus one paper of its management company (Pershing Square Inc.) - that is, the right to a share in management income. Participants in the private placement - family offices, pension funds and insurance companies - will be credited with 1.5 shares of the parent structure for the same package, Bloomberg writes.

Shares of both entities are scheduled to begin trading on the NYSE on April 29.

One investor speaking to the FT described the IPO as "excellent" and said it demonstrated Wall Street's interest in taking a stake in the fund's high fee income. "Institutionalists are betting on the management company as they don't normally act as investors in closed-end funds," he emphasized.

In 2024, Ackman was trying to raise $25 billion in a similar US listing - an extremely ambitious target for any company, let alone a closed-end fund format that is out of favor with investors, the FT notes. However, due to low demand, the billionaire first had to lower the bottom line to $2 billion, and then canceled the IPO altogether. While two years ago Ackman's ambitions clearly "exceeded market opportunities", now "the size of the deal is adequate to the market environment," one of the bankers involved in the offering pointed out to the British newspaper.

In its second attempt, Pershing Square was targeting not only institutional investors but also retail investors. Eckman outlined his plans to them in an interview with Robinhood head Vlad Tenev on YouTube in mid-April. However, about 85% of the demand for the IPO, including its closed portion, came from professional market participants, Bloomberg's sources said.

Aiming to become a second Berkshire Hathaway, Pershing Square has focused on building up its asset base and reorganizing its business, including increasing its stake in small developer Howard Hughes and looking to transform it into a conglomerate with diversified assets - similar to how Warren Buffett turned a troubled textile firm into the world's most expensive investment firm.

At the end of 2025, Pershing Square's portfolio under management was valued at $30.7 billion, two-thirds of which was in fee-earning assets, Bloomberg states.

In recent years, Pershing Square funds have bet on companies such as Alphabet and Chipotle. London-based Pershing Square Holdings recently acquired a large stake in Meta Platforms. According to an investor presentation, the deal adds to a number of new investments over the past 12 months, including purchases of shares in Amazon and Hertz Global.

In addition, Pershing Square has proposed a U.S. listing of recording giant Universal Music Group (its securities are now traded in Amsterdam) through a merger with its specialized structure for targeted mergers. Eckman himself called UMG "one of the best businesses we've ever owned." He estimates that a listing on the New York Stock Exchange and a financial reorganization would increase the company's market value by about 1.5 times, to €56 billion.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor