Billionaire investor and serial SPAC issuer Bill Ackman is selling a 10% stake in Pershing Square, aiming to eventually take his investment firm public, CNBC reported.
Ackman’s firm is raising $1.05 billion in a funding round, worth 10% of the management company and implying a valuation of $10.5 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. Investors on the deal are institutional and family offices who prefer to remain anonymous, the source said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the moves. Pershing Square declined to comment.
With the funding round, the hedge-fund manager is eyeing an eventual initial public offering in the U.S., but he hasn’t hired bankers or started that process officially yet, the source said.
Two years ago, Ackman named Ryan Israel chief investment officer, marking the first time the billionaire hedge-fund manager appointed someone else to run day-to-day investing for the firm. Ackman serves as CEO, with ultimate control over decision-making, although he has said that Israel would be his successor to run the firm if he got hit by a “pie truck.”
Pershing Square had $18.6 billion in total assets under management as of the end of April. Most of its capital is in Pershing Square Holdings, a closed-end fund that trades on European stock exchanges. Read more.
