Shares in Pershing Square’s newly listed investment vehicles recovered in their second day of trading, supported by disclosures that founder Bill Ackman increased his personal investment in both entities following their IPO, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Pershing Square Capital Management founder Bill Ackman disclosed on X that he purchased 500,000 shares of Pershing Square USA Ltd, the firm’s closed-end fund, alongside 800,000 shares of Pershing Square Inc, the newly public management company.
Following the announcement, Pershing Square Inc shares rose about 16% to $28, while Pershing Square USA edged up roughly 1.8% to $42.71. Despite the rebound, combined IPO investors remain modestly below par when factoring in both listed securities, according to market estimates.
Ackman argued that both listings were trading below what he considers intrinsic value. He pointed to the closed-end fund’s discount to its net cash value and noted that the management company had recently changed hands at a higher implied valuation in a prior private transaction.
The listings themselves raised around $5bn, below initial marketing expectations. While sufficient to complete the offering structure, the final size fell short of earlier targets and what had initially been floated in broader fundraising ambitions.
Market participants noted that the offering lacked the scarcity typically associated with strong post-IPO price momentum, which may have limited early demand dynamics.
Ackman and affiliated entities contributed $200m to the deal, increasing their commitment from earlier filings and helping lift the overall placement size to nearly $3bn, according to regulatory disclosures.
The IPO structure was designed to address long-standing investor concerns around closed-end funds, including persistent trading discounts to net asset value. Pershing Square USA does not charge performance fees and offered a share of the management company as part of the listing to enhance investor appeal.
Closed-end vehicles remain attractive to asset managers due to their stable capital base, though investor sentiment toward them has been mixed, largely because their market prices often diverge from underlying asset values.
Ackman, who built his reputation through activist investments and later shifted toward permanent capital structures, has increasingly focused on listed investment vehicles as a long-term funding model for his strategy.
