Bill Ackman hits lowest end of target in second IPO push
Source · Capital Markets desk
— Summary
Bill Ackman is closing in on a long-desired public listing for Pershing Square that has raised $5bn — half the top end of the $10bn target — and follows an unsuccessful 2024 IPO attempt. The combined listing covers a new closed-end fund, Pershing Square USA, and the hedge fund’s management company; shares are expected to begin trading on Wednesday.
The fundraising is the culmination of a years-long effort by Ackman to secure perpetual capital and build what he calls a “modern-day Berkshire Hathaway”. Investors will receive bonus shares in the management company for participating, allowing them to capture management-fee revenue. The scaled-back size — versus the originally targeted $25bn in 2024 — reflects lingering scepticism about closed-end funds, which trade at structural discounts to net asset value. As of end-March, Ackman’s $16bn-AUM London-listed Pershing Square Holdings had a market value of just ~$9bn. At least 80% of the new $5bn raise is reported to come from institutional investors, even though Ackman targeted retail through a Robinhood-CEO interview.
Ackman has been on a dealmaking spree — including taking effective control of real-estate group Howard Hughes Holdings — but the results are mixed: the flagship hedge fund had lost more than 2% year-to-date as of April 21. The new vehicle pays Pershing Square a steady stream of fees regardless of performance, addressing the perpetual-capital problem that long held the platform back. Source: Financial Times, 28 April 2026, Amelia Pollard and Costas Mourselas.
Key numbers
Item
Value
2026 raise
$5bn (target was $10bn)
2024 attempt: original target
$25bn (pulled)
Pershing Square Holdings AUM (London)
$16bn
Implied closed-end-fund discount
~44%
Why it matters
Ackman’s pitch is perpetual capital with management-fee participation: investors get bonus shares in the management company alongside the closed-end fund, capturing the steady fee stream. The architecture borrows from Berkshire (permanent capital, public listing) but stays closer to a hedge-fund-with-shopfront model.
The scaled-back size matters. Closed-end funds trade at structural discounts — Pershing Square Holdings trades at roughly 44% below NAV with $16bn AUM and a $9bn market cap. The 2024 attempt at $25bn was blown wide of where investor demand sat; the 2026 deal at $5bn is sized to where the market will clear.
Despite Ackman’s public courting of retail (a Robinhood-CEO sit-down), >80% of the new raise is institutional. Performance is a headwind: the flagship fund lost more than 2% in 2026 to April 21. Howard Hughes Holdings remains a key portfolio bet.
Takeaway
A useful real-world test of the “modern-day Berkshire” pitch: investors will pay for fee streams, not just for a fund. But $16bn of AUM trading at $9bn is the discount story Delfineo tracks across European holdings — a reminder that listing perpetual capital alone does not close it.
— Delfineo's Take
Ackman is explicit about modelling Pershing Square as a “modern-day Berkshire” — directly relevant to Delfineo’s berkshire-scanner work on European holding companies. The takeaway: even after a years-long effort and a manager-shares sweetener, US closed-end fund discounts persist ($16bn AUM trading at $9bn). It validates the structural scepticism baked into Delfineo’s European holding-company thesis (Eurazeo, Wendel, Investor AB) — and tempers expectations that listing more permanent capital alone closes the discount.