Bill Ackman's Pershing Square USA withdraws IPO
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The news: Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has withdrawn the planned launch of his new listed investment fund Pershing Square USA, days before it was due to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The numbers: Last week, Ackman slashed the fundraising target for Pershing's IPO by up to 90%. Bloomberg reported Pershing was aiming to raise USD25 billion ($38 billion) as recently as June, which would have made it one of the biggest IPOs in years.
However, in a private letter to investors last week, the billionaire investor said the fund expects to raise between USD2.5 billion and USD4 billion, with a potential cap of USD10 billion depending on demand.
Ackman said he has held nearly 100 meetings with top hedge and mutual funds and there had been considerable interest in the IPO. It was due to be his first new fund since raising USD2.9 billion for Pershing Square Holdings, which listed in Amsterdam a decade ago.
What they said: Posting on X, Ackman issued the following statement: "Over the last seven weeks, we have met with many institutions and family offices, and held numerous town halls for Pershing Square USA, Ltd.
"While we have received enormous investor interest in PSUS, one principal question has remained: Would investors be better served waiting to invest in the aftermarket than in the IPO?
"This question has inspired us to reevaluate PSUS’s structure to make the IPO investment decision a straightforward one. We will report back once we are ready to launch a revised transaction."
Responding to a question on X about media reports claiming Ackman was planning to cancel or postpone the IPO, he said: "I made the decision to withdraw the IPO this morning when I came up with a better transaction structure".
"The press reports from last week saying that we were cancelling and/or postponing were false at the time they were written. We were scheduled to price the offering this coming Monday, but we changed course this morning."
