It’s been a busy year for Bill Ackman of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management. Ackman spotted the risks from the coronavirus pandemic early, building a massive credit hedge in January and February that protected his hedge fund from the market plunge. Then, he doubled down near the market lows and is up 30%-plus for the year, compounding Pershing Square’s 58% gain in 2019. Now, the hedge fund billionaire is looking for his next signature deal.
Ackman is planning to raise up to $1 billion using a publicly traded blank-check company, which will then be used to buy a stake in a business and bring it to public stock markets. The brewing deal, first reported by Reuters, would give Ackman the opportunity to make a major new investment. (Pershing Square declined to comment.)
This year, Pershing Square used the March market plunge to rebuild a position in Starbucks and add significantly to holdings like Lowe’s, Howard Hughes and Restaurant Brands. Pershing Square also build a stake in private equity giant Blackstone Group, first reported by Forbes, but then sold quickly, he recently told investors. Typically, when Pershing Square scales a new investment it commits between $500 million and $1 billion to the idea, or about a 5%-to-10% weight.
Blank check companies have become popular in recent years as a way to take private equity and venture capital backed companies public. Notable recent deals include the listings of DraftKings, Virgin Galactic and most recently, hydrogen truck unicorn Nikola Motor Company. These vehicles have attracted big names on Wall Street, from Goldman Sachs to Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital and Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital and Ackman is no stranger to these deals.
Pershing Square notably formed a blank check company called Justice Holdings and in 2012 bought a large stake in Burger King, taking the restaurant public. The deal, in partnership with private equity giant 3G capital, turned into a massive windfall for Ackman and Pershing Square. Ackman personally owns about $250 million in shares of Burger King’s parent company and it’s been one of Pershing Square’s more successful investments. Pershing Square also invested in Nomad Foods and Platform Specialty Products, which were blank check companies, but didn’t turn out as successful.
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The prospective new deal is one to watch.
Private equity firms are sitting on massive portfolios of businesses that may need new capital to manage through the pandemic, and may find appeal in quickly tapping public stock markets. Moreover, Pershing Square’s current portfolio is indexed heavily to restaurants, retailers and hoteliers, but Ackman’s done much less investing in some of the hotter corners of the stock market, like information technology and software. Pershing Square recently built a large position in healthcare software provider Agilent, and Ackman’s long been a fan of Ceridian, a maker of software for payroll.
Ackman’s Pershing Square is enjoying a renaissance after the firm battled through a $4 billion-plus loss on controversial Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The firm refocused on its areas of specialty, succeeding on investments like Nike, Starbucks, Hilton and Chipotle and has seen a major payoff. Last year was the best on record for Pershing Square and his fund is significantly outperforming peers and broader stock markets in 2020. Assets firmwide recently eclipsed $10 billion, about half of their peak, with most housed in a publicly traded permanent capital vehicle called Pershing Square Holdings.
Now, Ackman is raising new capital to hunt for new deals in markets ripe with opportunity.
– Antoine Gara, Forbes Staff, Banking & Insurance
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