Editor’s Note: SpaceX is expected to go public in a huge $1.75 trillion IPO. Trading could begin in less than 60 days. That’s why billionaires are rushing to secure shares right now. And you can too.
Bill Ackman planned the “perfect IPO.”
His hedge fund company – Pershing Square – would raise $5 - $10 billion for a new publicly traded fund. And investors in the fund would get 1 share of Bill Ackman’s investment management company for every 5 shares purchased in the fund.
· Pershing Square USA (NYSE: PSUS) – closed-end investment fund
· Pershing Square Inc: (NYSE PS) – investment management company
The stock started trading Wednesday — and it was a rough debut.
Pershing Square USA (NYSE: PSUS) priced at $50 per share and closed the first day at $40.90. That's an 18% drop on day one. The companion listing — Pershing Square Inc. (PS), the asset management company — closed at $24.20, roughly flat from its opening price.
The combined offering raised $5 billion. The deal targeted at $5 - $10 billion. Two years ago, Ackman proposed raising as much as $25 billion for a similar fund. That deal failed to go public.
By most measures, this was not a great start. But here's what happened next.
Thursday morning, Ackman posted on X that he'd purchased 500,000 shares of PSUS and 800,000 shares of Pershing Square Inc. in the open market — approximately $40 million combined. He also pointed out that PSUS is now trading at a "large discount" to its roughly $49 per share in cash.
The market responded. PSUS was up about 4.6% Thursday. Pershing Square Inc. jumped 16%.
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The fund's long-term track record is real.
Since inception in 2004, Pershing Square has generated cumulative net returns of more than 2,600%, versus roughly 836% for the S&P 500 over the same period. The macro hedging record — including the $27 million bet in early 2020 that returned approximately $2.6 billion — is a legitimate differentiator.
The structure was also genuinely unusual.
No performance fee for PSUS investors. Bonus shares in the management company handed out to fund investors. Permanent capital, which means no forced selling during downturns. Ackman has compared the model to Berkshire Hathaway's, and the comparison isn't entirely hollow — he even plans annual investor meetings in the same spirit.
Now that the IPO is completed – investors can purchase shares directly in the fund with PSUS or in Ackman’s investment management company with PS.
Have you invested in SpaceX yet? If not, you should definitely consider securing shares ahead of the IPO.
Ian Wyatt
Editor, IPO Watch