Ackman's Pershing Square raises $3 billion in fund listing

Reuters
William Ackman, founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, speaks to the audience in New York, July 22, 2014. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

LONDON (Reuters) - Pershing Square Holdings, a fund managed by activist investor Bill Ackman, raised $3.07 billion ahead of a stock market listing in Amsterdam, the company said on Wednesday. The fund boosts the firepower of billionaire Ackman, famed for aggressive moves such as a $1 billion bet against U.S. nutrition firm Herbalife and a battle to broker a sale of Botox maker Allergan to Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The fund raised $2.73 billion through an initial public offering and said the exercise of an over-allotment option would see the value of the placing rise to more than $3 billion. The fund was priced at $25 a share, giving it a market capitalization of $6.2 billion, the company said in a statement. Pershing Square Holdings' shares will start trading on Euronext Amsterdam on Oct. 13. The fund is run by Pershing Square Capital Management, a North America-focused equities investment manager founded by Ackman in 2003 which had $14.1 billion in assets under management at the end of June. (Reporting by Francesco Canepa and Nishant Kumar; editing by David Clarke)