Pershing Square Capital Management

Pershing Square Capital Management (Pershing Square) is an American hedge fund based in New York City. It specializes in activist investments, using influence over company management through the purchase of shares and by exerting pressure on management. Pershing Square was founded on January 1, 2004, by Bill Ackman, a hedge fund manager who was a co-founder of the investment firm Gotham Partners in 1992. Pershing Square was initially capitalized with Ackman's personal funds and $54 million raised from Leucadia National, a prominent investor with whom he had previously collaborated on Gotham Partners projects. This provided the firm with a substantial liquidity reserve at its inception. In October 2014, Pershing Square Holdings, a closed-end investment fund managed by Ackman, made its initial public offering (IPO) on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The listing raised $2.73 billion, exceeding the initially planned $2 billion. Shares were priced at $25 per share during the IPO but closed at $22 on the first trading day, reflecting a 9.9% discount to the fund’s net asset value.