news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

The latest news shows that the US IPO fundraising scale of Bill Ackman, the billionaire and "God of War" during the epidemic, is far less than the $25 billion he proposed two weeks ago. If successful, this scale proposed at the time would become one of the largest IPOs in history, comparable to Saudi Aramco.

According to an update on Thursday, Pershing Square Capital Management expects the fund to apply for $2.5 billion to $4 billion, and the final fundraising size will depend on demand in the next three business days. The company has set the upper limit at $10 billion.

The IPO of the above fund is expected to be completed next Monday, and the documents may be updated soon, and the pricing will be carried out next Monday night.

Although the current Pershing Square IPO is expected to raise only a fraction of the size Ackman recently proposed, he sought to assure some investors in a letter that the reduction could actually help sales:

The $25 billion figure reported in the media initially led investors to believe the deal was too large. Ultimately, I expect this anchoring effect will help the final outcome.

Ackman also revealed that the IPO sale has received a number of orders from a variety of investor groups, including:

• Baupost Group, owned by Seth Klarman, known as "Little Buffett," submitted an order worth $150 million.
• Mutual fund company Putnam plans to buy $40 million and may buy more if the deal does not reach $10 billion.
• The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has a $60 million order, which could increase depending on the size of the deal.
• A family office with more than $65 billion in assets has expressed interest in buying a 9.9 percent stake, but Ackman did not name the office.

Ackman urged the company’s existing investors to place orders to participate in the IPO, saying it would help strengthen the message to the market about the size of the deal:

This is a time when you can be very helpful to Pershing Square by participating in the PSUS distribution and placing orders with the bank early. Of course, subsequent orders are still very helpful as the order book will continue to accumulate and we will create momentum over the weekend into Monday.

Ackman said the U.S. IPO would be similar to the one currently trading under Pershing Square Holdings Ltd., Pershing’s European-listed fund.

The Wall Street Journal website previously introduced that Ackman's European fund manages about $15 billion in assets and is publicly traded on the Amsterdam and London stock markets, but Ackman is prohibited from promoting funds listed in Europe to U.S. investors. As of the end of 2023, the five-year average annualized return of this European fund was 31.2%, about twice the comparable return of the S&P 500 Index (including dividends) during the same period.

Pershing Square itself, which manages and operates closed-end and hedge funds, recently sold a 10% stake in the company ahead of a potential IPO. Ackman said on a conference call earlier this month that the management company's IPO could take place as early as late 2025 or 2026.

Some analysis mentioned the "listing paradox" of hedge funds.Hedge funds have a greater volatility in performance than general listed companies. Many hedge funds have been undervalued after going public, so going public may not be the best option. Bankers and industry insiders revealed that before the 2008 financial crisis, almost every large hedge fund was considering going public. When large hedge funds welcomed the IPO boom,It may indicate that the market has peaked.