Hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman is trying to revive his failed Pershing Square USA IPO by offering attractive incentives to early investors.The Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The 58-year-old billionaire last month withdrew plans to list a highly publicized new fund on the New York Stock Exchange. Investor demand fell short of his lofty expectations..
According to the Financial Times, Ackman is now in new discussions about a reformed structure that would offer early investors the opportunity to buy additional shares at a fixed price.
Early backers may also be given the opportunity to buy shares when his main investment firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, goes public, British financial newspaper reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The Wall Street giant hopes to relaunch the Pershing Square IPO by the end of the year, the Financial Times reported.
The Washington Post has reached out to a spokesman for Ackman for comment.
Pershing Square USA's original idea was to create what's called a closed-end fund, meaning shareholders could only withdraw their money if someone else bought their shares.
Ackman, whose net worth is $9.1 billion according to Forbes magazine, initially set an ambitious investment target of $25 billion and tried to entice potential investors by waiving a 2% management fee for the first year of trading.
He had pledged to invest about $500 million from his hedge fund into the start-up.
The goal was to raise enough capital to acquire large minority stakes in 12 to 15 of the largest North American companies.
But he was forced to slash that target by more than 90% to just $2 billion before ultimately backing away from the idea.
Ackman, a Harvard graduate who has been an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump on social media, sold a 10% stake in Pershing Square Capital Management in June to investors including San Francisco's Iconi Capital and Israeli insurer Menorah Mivtakhim, valuing the hedge fund at $10.5 billion.
And earlier this month, Mr. Ackman's firm disclosed in a regulatory filing that it was exploring a deal to take the Howard Hughes Real Estate Co. private.
Ackman's family is the largest shareholder in South Street Seaport Development Company, with a 38% stake.
His fund has returned 16.5% annually.
Ackman, who has more than 1 million followers on Elon Musk's social media platform X, has used his newfound online influence to generate buzz about the Pershing Square USA project.
But the top investor also spoke out on broader topics, including the upcoming presidential election and the state of higher education in the United States.
Earlier this year, he led a campaign to criticize Harvard University following a furor over practices related to anti-Semitism, plagiarism and financial management.
Ackman rose to prominence in 2012 with his disastrous $1 billion capital shortfall at supplement company Herbalife, while rival activist Carl Icahn took opposing positions on the company's future.
The following year, the two had an infamous live CNBC altercation over the matter.
