Bill Ackman yanks delayed Pershing Square IPO day after seeking to raise reduced $2B

Activist investor Bill Ackman on Wednesday pulled his much-publicized initial public offering for Pershing Square USA — a day after disclosing the new portfolio would raise an already-reduced $2 billion in capital.

The billionaire head of Pershing Square Capital Management had initially delayed this week’s expected launch of the PSUS fund until next week.

The Harvard graduate — who has been prominent on social media about rampant antisemitism on college campuses in recent months — said Wednesday he would revisit the IPO once he is ready to launch a revised transaction.

“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?” Ackman said in a statement.

The fundraising target for the new fund, his first in a decade, was a fraction of the $25 billion Ackman had initially expected to bring in.

Ackman’s idea was to create a closed-end fund, meaning shareholders can only pull back if someone else buys their stock and mirroring positions he held with his other major investment vehicles.

His firm had pumped $500 million into its new investment holding company, according to a presentation by the star hedge fund manager earlier this month.

In a letter to investors who own a stake in his management company, Ackman said last Wednesday that he was capping the size of the offering at $10 billion and was expecting to see between $2.5 billion and $4 billion in new cash come in.

The letter, later made public in an SEC filing, named Baupost ($150 million), Putnam Investments ($40 million), and Teacher Retirement System of Texas ($60 million) as potential investors.

Ackman urged investors in Pershing Squares management company to rally behind it, saying it would help improve the strength of tomorrows initial message to the market on deal size.

But on Monday, the Bloomberg news agency reported that Seth Klarman’s Baupost had scrapped plans to get involved.

A prolific investor with a vast social media following, Ackman is one of the most public faces in the hedge fund industry. He often uses his account on X to weigh on topics ranging from political battles to higher education.

Earlier this year, he led a campaign criticizing Harvard University after turmoil over practices related to antisemitism, plagiarism and financial management.