Bill Ackman’s closed-end fund Pershing Square USA prices $5 billion IPO at $50 per share; manager Pershing Square Inc. also set to trade on the NYSE
IPO Overview
Pershing Square USA, a closed-end investment vehicle formed by Bill Ackman, raised $5 billion by selling shares at $50 per share. The company raised $2.2 billion by selling 44 million shares in a registered offering to public investors, as well as $2.8 billion from a private placement to US and international institutional investors, including family offices （30%）， pension funds （25%）， insurance companies （22%）， ultra-high-net-worth investors （12%） and other investors （11%）。 The fund had planned to raise between $5 billion and $10 billion.
Pershing Square USA represents the largest ever launch of a new closed-end fund. The company states that permanent capital will allow its manager to take a long-term view and be opportunistic during periods of market volatility, without being exposed to the need to raise capital by selling assets to meet redemptions during such periods.
The New York, NY-based company will trade on the NYSE on Wednesday under the symbol PSUS. Citi, UBS Investment Bank, BofA Securities, Jefferies, Wells Fargo Securities, RBC Capital Markets, BTG Pactual, and Keefe Bruyette Woods acted as joint bookrunners on the deal. Renaissance Capital will not include Pershing Square USA in our 2026 IPO stats, because it is a closed-end fund.
In addition to the closed-end fund, Ackman is also taking public the management company, Pershing Square Inc., which will trade on the NYSE under the ticker PS. Pershing Square Inc. did not list via a traditional underwritten IPO. Instead, investors in the PSUS offering were set to receive 1 share of PS for every 5 shares of PSUS purchased, while investors in the $2.8 billion private placement received 1.5 shares of PS for every 5 shares of PSUS purchased. Shares of the manager were included in the combined IPO as a sweetener because closed-end funds often trade at a discount to NAV.
About the Company
Pershing Square USA, a Delaware statutory trust, is a closed-end investment company that is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and managed by its investment manager, Pershing Square Capital Management （“PSCM” or the “Manager”）。 The Company has not commenced investment operations. The Company’s investment objective is to preserve capital and seek maximum, long-term capital appreciation and growth in intrinsic value per share commensurate with reasonable risk, where risk is defined as the probability of permanent loss of capital, rather than price volatility. There can be no assurance that the Company’s investment objective will be achieved. The Company seeks to achieve its investment objective by acquiring and holding large minority stakes in 12 to 15 high-quality, predominantly North American-listed, large-capitalization growth companies at attractive valuations during periods in which the Manager believes they have underperformed their potential and/or when the Manager believes they are undervalued because the market underestimates their potential or overestimates the impact of certain negative factors on their businesses.