Mile markers on the road to perdition.
From Bloomberg, March 10:
Bill Ackman is returning to the IPO market with a combined offering for his hedge fund manager and a new closed-end fund, the latest move in the billionaire’s long campaign to expand his asset management empire to public market investors.
The initial public offering for Pershing Square USA Ltd., the closed-end fund, would also give investors stakes in Pershing Square Inc., his alternative asset management firm, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. For every 100 shares of the closed-end fund IPO purchased by a buyer, that investor will receive 20 shares in the management company, the filing shows.
Ackman is looking to raise between $5 billion and $10 billion for Pershing Square USA in the combined deal, with investors who buy shares in the closed-end fund at $50 apiece receiving the management firm’s shares for no additional cost.
The offering marks a fresh attempt by Ackman to bring his long-term investment strategy to a broader base of investors, with a vision inspired by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. After a plan to raise as much as $25 billion for a New York Stock Exchange-listed closed-end fund floundered in 2024, Pershing Square pivoted to boosting its Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. stake a few months later to use as a vehicle for taking majority stakes in other firms.
In a letter to Pershing Square Inc. investors, Ackman noted recent market volatility including the war in Iran, and said that unlike operating companies considering IPOs, stock market disruption actually helps Pershing Square USA’s acquisition program.
“Pershing Square has been a long-term beneficiary of the opportunity to buy superb companies at bargain prices driven by macro events that did not have a material impact on their long-term intrinsic values,” Ackman wrote. “We believe now is one of these opportune times.”....
....MUCH MORE
See also:
May 4, 1999 - Goldman Sachs Initial Public Offering
Friday March 10, 2000 - Nasdaq all-time closing high at 5048.62
On the following Monday the Naz was down 141 points. On Tuesday, 200.
The index had begun a 30-month decline to its September 24, 2002 intra-day low of 1,169.04,
down 77%.
This became one of my favorite songs:
A long, long week ago
I can still remember how the market used to make me smile
What I'd do when I had the chance
Is get myself a cash advance
And add another tech stock to the pile.
.
With every speech that he delivered
Bad news on the rate front
Still I'd take one more punt
.
When I heard about the CPI
I lost my fortune and my pride
The day the NASDAQ died
.
I poured my paycheck into Datek
Now my cash account's dry
It's just two weeks from a new all-time high
And now we're right back where we were in July
We're right back where we were in July.....
