Billionaire investor Bill Ackman filed to take his hedge fund firm Pershing Square Capital Management public on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. The move marks the culmination of a two-decade campaign to build a publicly traded investment vehicle modeled on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Pershing Square will list under the ticker symbol “PS” in a dual structure that also includes a new closed-end fund called Pershing Square USA (PSUS). Both securities will trade separately on the NYSE, giving everyday investors direct access to Ackman’s concentrated, activist investment strategy for the first time on a major U.S. exchange.
Ackman Targets Up to $10 Billion in Combined IPO
The firm is seeking to raise between $5 billion and $10 billion for PSUS, with shares priced at $50 each. Pershing Square said it has already secured $2.8 billion in commitments from family offices, pension funds, insurance companies, and ultra-high-net-worth investors ahead of the offering.
As an added incentive, the firm will deliver 20 shares of Pershing Square Inc. common stock for every 100 PSUS shares purchased in the IPO at no additional cost. Private placement investors will receive a more favorable ratio of 30 shares per 100. Citigroup, UBS Investment Bank, BofA Securities, Jefferies, and Wells Fargo Securities are serving as underwriters for the deal.
A Buffett-Inspired Model With a Hedge Fund Pedigree
Ackman founded Pershing Square Capital Management in 2004 with $54 million. The firm has grown into a major force on Wall Street, managing roughly $19.7 billion in assets. Its hedge fund strategy centers on taking large, concentrated positions in a small number of companies and pushing for changes that Ackman believes will unlock shareholder value.
The fund’s track record includes dramatic wins, such as a $2.6 billion profit from a COVID-era credit hedge in March 2020, and painful losses, including its bet on Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which contributed to back-to-back annual declines in 2015 and 2016.
Ackman already operates Pershing Square Holdings (PSH), a publicly traded vehicle listed on the London Stock Exchange. But a U.S. listing has been a long-stated goal. An earlier attempt to launch a U.S.-listed closed-end fund in 2024 was shelved after investor demand fell short of expectations.
Why This Matters for Investors and Founders
The PSUS fund will charge a 2% annual management fee, which is higher than most actively managed mutual funds and ETFs but notably excludes the performance-based fees that traditional hedge funds typically layer on top. The management fee will also be waived for the first 12 months after the IPO.
If the offering meets its upper target, it would rank among the largest fund IPOs in recent memory and would signal continued appetite among institutional and retail investors for actively managed, high-conviction strategies. The listing could also set a precedent for other prominent fund managers exploring public market structures as alternatives to the traditional hedge fund model.
The filing comes at a turbulent moment for markets. The S&P 500 has been whipsawed by geopolitical uncertainty tied to the Iran conflict and ongoing tariff disputes, while oil prices remain volatile. Ackman’s bet is that investors will look past short-term turbulence and commit capital to a long-term, concentrated portfolio managed by one of Wall Street’s most recognizable figures.
The SEC filing is now public, and the timeline for pricing and first trades has not yet been announced, CNBC reported. Pershing Square said additional details will be disclosed in an amended registration statement ahead of the offering.
