Bill Ackman files for combined IPOs of Pershing Square, new fund

Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management in Toronto. (Pawel Dwulit / The Canadian Press)

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square filed for U.S. initial public offerings of his hedge fund and a new fund on Tuesday, looking set to join a small club of publicly traded alternative asset managers.

The move marks a major milestone for Ackman, the activist investor who has established himself as one of Wall Street’s most-watched investors. He is known for pushing for changes in companies such as Chipotle Mexican Grill and railroad Canadian Pacific.

Ackman previously attempted to take the new fund, Pershing Square USA, public in 2024, but scrapped the launch days before it was slated to begin trading.

Investors in the new fund will receive 20 shares in Pershing Square for every 100 shares purchased in the new fund as a sweetener.

Pershing Square USA currently expects to raise between US$5 billion and $10 billion in the combined transaction. It is selling shares at $50 apiece.

The fund has secured $2.8 billion in commitments from U.S. and international institutional investors such as family offices, pension funds, insurance companies, and ultra-high-net-worth investors.

“Oftentimes, investment banks advise companies that are considering initial public offerings to postpone their offerings during such market conditions as IPO investors discount the price they are willing to pay for a company when risk premiums rise,” Ackman said in a letter, referring to volatility from the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

“While this advice makes sense for operating companies, the opposite is true for IPOs of investment vehicles like PSUS as the greater the stock market disruption, so the better for PSUS’s acquisition program.”

In Pershing Square’s 2025 annual report, Ackman counted “the potential for a peace dividend in the Middle East” as one of the 10 top drivers for strong economic performance in 2026.

Pershing Square USA, which will invest in 12 to 15 undervalued North American-listed companies, is expected to mimic Ackman’s existing hedge fund but offer lower fees and quicker access to capital to boost its appeal to a wide pool of investors.

Pershing Square had sold a 10 per cent stake in the hedge fund in 2024 to a consortium of institutional investors and family offices at a $10.5 billion valuation as a precursor to a potential IPO.

The hedge fund had about $30.7 billion in assets under management as of December end, with the bulk invested in Pershing Square Holdings, the closed-end fund listed in London.

Public figure

Over the years, Ackman’s investment strategy has evolved from “transactional activism,” where he pushed for changes at companies to juice the stock price, to creating value as an “insider” by joining the board of medium-sized companies like mall operator General Growth Properties, which Ackman has touted as his best investment ever.

In contrast with the usually limited public engagements seen from Wall Street’s biggest investment managers, Ackman often muses on social media platform X in elaborate posts closely watched by Wall Street as well as Capitol Hill.

Citigroup, UBS Investment Bank, BofA Securities, Jefferies and Wells Fargo Securities are the underwriters for the combined IPO.

Pershing Square and Pershing Square USA will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbols “PS” and “PSUS,” respectively.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)