Bill Ackman's Pershing Square withdraws IPO as demand for offering waned

Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, speaks during an interview for an episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” in New York on Nov. 28, 2023.

Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square USA withdrew plans for an initial public offering after investor demand appeared to wane from original expectations.

But the hedge fund titan said he would be back with a revised plan for the offering for his fund, which he had wanted to model after Berkshire Hathaway.

Ackman wrote in a statement:

“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.”

The withdrawal comes a day after the fund said it would be seeking to raise $2 billion, far below the possible $25 billion cited in previous reports. The announcement also comes on the back of a notice on the New York Stock Exchange’s website last Friday, which showed the billionaire investor was delaying his IPO.

Pershing Square had $18.7 billion in assets under management as of the end of June. Most of the money was under Pershing Square Holdings, a closed-end fund that trades in Europe.

On Monday, Bloomberg News reported citing sources that Baupost Group opted against investing in the offering after Ackman had originally touted in a letter to investors that Seth Klarman’s Boston-based hedge fund was participating.

Ackman’s move to publicly list Pershing Square was seen as a way to capitalize on his growing presence among retail investors. Currently, he has more than one million followers on social media platform X. On the platform, he has expressed his views on topics including the U.S. presidential election and antisemitism.