Ackman's Pershing Square seeks up to $10 billion in NYSE IPO

Bill Ackman is returning to the IPO market with a combined offering for his hedge fund manager and a new closed-end fund, the latest move in the billionaire's long campaign to expand his asset management empire to public market investors. 

The initial public offering for Pershing Square USA Ltd., the closed-end fund, would also give investors stakes in Pershing Square Inc., his alternative asset management firm, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. For every 100 shares of the closed-end fund IPO purchased by a buyer, that investor will receive 20 shares in the management company, the filing shows.

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Ackman is looking to raise between $5 billion and $10 billion for Pershing Square USA in the combined deal, with investors who buy shares in the closed-end fund at $50 apiece receiving the management firm's shares for no additional cost.

The offering marks a fresh attempt by Ackman to bring his long-term investment strategy to a broader base of investors, with a vision inspired by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. After a plan to raise as much as $25 billion for a New York Stock Exchange-listed closed-end fund floundered in 2024, Pershing Square pivoted to boosting its Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. stake a few months later to use as a vehicle for taking majority stakes in other firms.

In a letter to Pershing Square Inc. investors, Ackman noted recent market volatility including the war in Iran, and said that unlike operating companies considering IPOs, stock market disruption actually helps Pershing Square USA's acquisition program. 

"Pershing Square has been a long-term beneficiary of the opportunity to buy superb companies at bargain prices driven by macro events that did not have a material impact on their long-term intrinsic values," Ackman wrote. "We believe now is one of these opportune times."

The alternative asset manager has roughly $30.7 billion in total assets under management with $20.7 billion of that in fee-paying assets as of the end of 2025, Pershing Square Inc.'s Tuesday filing shows.

Concentrated positions

Ackman made his name with a number of high-profile activist campaigns and a willingness to take concentrated positions in a relatively small cohort of stocks. Pershing Square's core funds each held sizable stakes in Alphabet Inc., Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Brookfield Corp. as of the end of 2024, the filing shows.

Pershing Square's shift toward a longer-term, public-market investor oriented strategy has been in the works since at least 2024, when Ackman agreed to sell a 10% stake in a private deal that valued it at more than $10 billion ahead of the planned IPO.

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Part of the funds in Pershing Square USA's IPO will be raised from a private placement, with $2.8 billion secured from qualified investors including family offices, pension funds and insurances companies, the filing shows. The investors in the private placement will receive 30 shares in the management company for every 100 closed-end fund shares purchased.

Pershing Square expects the two companies to trade independently once the IPO is priced. The asset manager, Pershing Square Inc. won't receive any proceeds from Pershing Square USA's closed-end fund IPO, the filings show.

Unlike mutual funds, a closed-end fund doesn't continuously create or redeem shares, meaning prices can trade at a premium or discount to the value of the underlying holdings — a feature that has historically complicated fundraising.

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd., the firm's London-listed closed-end fund, had $17.1 billion of assets under management at the end of February. The fund is similar to many other closed-end funds in that it trades below its net asset value, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The mid-price is currently 27% below the NAV, the data show.

Robinhood Markets Inc.'s closed-end fund to invest in private companies raised $658.4 million earlier this month, well short of the $1 billion it was seeking. The shares traded at $22.75 each on Tuesday, 9% below their IPO price. Ackman interviewed Robinhood executives about the fund ahead of its pricing.

Pershing Square USA will charge a 2% management fee, and won't charge a performance fee, according to the filing.

After the IPOs, an investment vehicle controlled by Ackman, Chief Investment Officer Ryan Israel and other executives, is expected to have voting power over Pershing Square Inc.

The combined offering is being led by Citigroup Inc., UBS Group AG, Bank of America Corp., Jefferies Financial Group Inc., and Wells Fargo & Co. The closed-end fund will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PSUS while the hedge fund manager is expected to trade under the ticker PS.