Bill Ackman, the Wall Street billionaire investor and chairman of Pershing Square Capital, sold a 10% stake ahead of Pershing Square's initial public offering (IPO) next year, Bloomberg News reported on the 3rd (local time).
Iconic Capital and Israeli insurance company Menora Mivtachim participated in the stake acquisition. Pershing Square raised $1.05 billion (approximately 1.4413 trillion KRW) through this sale.
Some of the raised funds will be used to establish Pershing Square USA, and the rest will be used to finance future fund launches.
With this stake sale, Pershing Square was valued at about $10.5 billion (approximately 14.4134 trillion KRW) ahead of the IPO. This valuation is higher than private equity firms such as TPG and CVC Capital Partners, which have gone public in recent years. According to sources, Chairman Ackman plans to hold the Pershing Square IPO in the second half of 2025.
Foreign media interpreted this stake sale as a preliminary move for the IPO.
Chairman Ackman stated, "This new investment will help accelerate the growth of assets under management in both existing and new strategies."
Pershing Square holds stakes in companies such as Alphabet, Google's parent company, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Universal Music Group. Its main business is managing closed-end funds with over $15 billion (approximately 20.5845 trillion KRW) in assets and charging a 1.5% management fee. According to the securities filing, last year it earned about $155 million (approximately 212.7 billion KRW) in hedge fund management fees and $312 million (approximately 428.1 billion KRW) in performance fees.
The stake sale significantly increased Chairman Ackman's net worth. Bloomberg reported that Ackman's Pershing Square stake is valued at over $3.5 billion (approximately 4.8045 trillion KRW), bringing his net worth to $8 billion (approximately 10.9816 trillion KRW).
As a result, Ackman ranked 333rd on Bloomberg's global billionaire list, entering the world's top 500 billionaires for the first time. This surpasses Wall Street giants such as John Gray, George Soros, and Todd Boehly.
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