Although Bill Ackman is “ending a second blockbuster year in a row,” investors don’t seem to be keen to invest in his Pershing Square Holdings fund, which continues to trade at a large discount. This according to a recent article in Barron’s.
“That could mean an opportunity,” the article says.
Ackman suffered a poor stretch of performance from 2015 to 2017 when Pershing’s net asset value reportedly dropped by about 30% and lagged the S&P 500 by approximately 60 percentage points. But the article notes that he’s “back in a big way,” as evidenced by his raising $4 billion last June for his SPAC (Pershing Square Tontine Holdings), which is “the largest in the market and has a much more investor-friendly structure than most SPACs.”
According to the article, “the continued big discount on Pershing Square Holdings could reflect a legacy of Ackman’s poor showing a few years ago, the high fee structure, and the European listing,” adding that many U.S. investors are not even aware of the fund.” It concludes, “Even after its big gains this year, Pershing Square Holdings still looks like a cheap bet on a successful investor who has been hitting his stride.”