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Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has announced plans to take his firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, public. Alongside this, he is introducing a new investment fund designed to attract billions from both everyday investors and major financial institutions.
This new venture, named Pershing Square USA, is structured as a closed-end fund. Such funds are unique in that they issue a fixed number of shares during an initial public offering (IPO), after which these shares are traded on stock exchanges like regular stocks.
Investors in closed-end funds can exit their positions by selling their shares to other market participants at prevailing market prices, which may differ from the fund’s actual net asset value.
Ackman took a significant step forward by filing for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The goal is to raise a minimum of $5 billion in total capital.
The filing reveals that this target includes raising $2.8 billion through a private placement, where shares are sold directly to select buyers prior to the public offering.
The fund won’t grow beyond $10 billion in combined proceeds from the IPO and placement, the filing states.
Shares start at $50 each, with a minimum buy of 100. That means it will cost at least $5,000 to any investor who wants to get on board
The money raised will go toward Pershing Square’s goal of making big money bets on public companies.
Ackman pulled a similar US fund plan in 2024 after cutting its target from up to $25 billion, which would have been one of the biggest ever, to $2 billion due to weak interest.
He sold a 10% slice of Pershing Square for $1.05 billion that year, pegging the firm at $10.5 billion, as a public-listing warm-up.
His London-listed Pershing Square Holdings is down about 10% this year through February, after climbing 21% in 2025.
Pershing Square oversees around $19 billion, including borrowed cash known as leverage, which boosts potential gains but amps up risks.
Once famous for activist investing — buying stakes and pushing for profit-boosting changes like new bosses or strategies — the firm now focuses on large holdings in major companies.
Ackman’s star has risen outside finance as a loud voice on social media, where he has laid out his see-sawing political views and even offered dating advice to young men.
Last month, the Trump-backing money man unveiled a roughly $2 billion stake in Meta Platforms — about 10% of his fund’s capital at the end of 2025 — wagering the Facebook parent will thrive from artificial intelligence growth.
Last year, Pershing Square also poured cash into real estate firm Howard Hughes Holdings and backed its buyout of insurer Vantage Group Holdings.
Ackman, a big fan of legendary investor Warren Buffett, wants to shape Howard Hughes into a mix of businesses like the Sage of Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway, which owns everything from Geico to See’s Candies.
A team of banks led by Citigroup Global Markets, UBS Securities, Bank of America Securities, Jefferies, and Wells Fargo Securities will handle the Pershing Square IPO as bookrunners. They’ll organize and allocate shares to buyers.
The shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under a ticker to be announced.