Episode summary
Ackman’s Pershing Square Seeks Up to $10 Billion in NYSE IPO | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 18 min · Hosts: Scarlet Fu, John Tucker · Guests: Bailey Lipschultz, Mary Ross Gilbert, Matthew Griffin
Summary
Pershing Square’s plan to go public centers on a combined offering: a closed-end fund that would give buyers an attached stake in the management company, with the goal of raising more than $5 billion and ultimately taking the manager public. Bailey Lipschultz said the pitch reflects both the need to restart fundraising and the attraction of higher fee revenue, since more assets would lift the 2% management fee base. He also said the timing is constrained by the filing process and that the roadshow would likely start after the Easter holiday, or around the other side of April.
On retail, Mary Ross Gilbert said Kohl’s is still struggling to stabilize sales, even as it leans harder into value items, private brands and digital growth. She said the chain’s customer is a low- to middle-income shopper who is under pressure from higher gas prices, and that the company’s own promotions are still too confusing to fully convert traffic. Kohl’s may have a valuable real-estate portfolio, but she said the turnaround will take time and margins will stay pressured if the company has to stay promotional.
Matthew Griffin said war in Iran, AI disruption and private-credit stress are colliding to make markets more fragile. He argued the risks do not simply disappear if oil falls back, because higher uncertainty makes refinancing harder and can keep rates elevated, leaving investors with fewer clean playbooks.
Key takeaways
- Bailey Lipschultz said Pershing Square wants to raise more than $5 billion and use the IPO to increase fee revenue and take the management company public.
- The Pershing Square proposal is designed to lure investors with shares in the manager for every 100 shares of the closed-end fund bought, according to Bailey Lipschultz.
- Mary Ross Gilbert said Kohl’s is still losing ground with its low- to middle-income customer and must sharpen value to drive traffic and conversion.
- Mary Ross Gilbert said higher gas prices hit Kohl’s core shopper directly, making sharp pricing and private brands more important.
- Matthew Griffin said war, AI and private-credit stress are compounding market fragility rather than acting as isolated shocks.
- Matthew Griffin said investors should expect the usual playbook to be less reliable because multiple risks are hitting at once.
Notable quotes
“if you invest in the closed end fund we'll give you some shares to the actual management company as a way to entice people to buy”
“Raising 5 to10 billion increases the amount of fees that the company can generate the management company and it takes the management company public”
“the playbook is out the door”
“you can't look at each of these risks on its own because the you know the problems together can add up to create you know issues for risk assets”
How the episode opens
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Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. I mean, one thing that we'll know that that we can look at to return to normal is deal making is uh fundraising. That'll be a sign that people feel comfortable, companies feel comfortable with the current market environment.
And it looks like at least one person feels good about how things are shaping up. Bill Aman has filed to take public his hedge fund firm Persing Square and uh a new closedend fund. Uh at the same time, Billy Lipshultz is Bloomberg News's senior equities reporter.
He's been covering IPOs for years and this is something we had been anticipating Billy uh because there was this effort to list uh the hedge fund Persing Square back in 2024 that didn't get very far.
Well, so back in 24 the initial thought process uh from our understanding from Persing Square was we're going to raise a lot of money in a closed end fund so that way we can have an even higher fee base. We want to raise more than $20 billion. Then that number became like 10, then it became five.
Then it didn't actually get off the ground. So that was for the closed end fund. Uh now we're seeing them come back with this I'll call it novel pitch that if you invest in the closed end fund we'll give you some shares to the actual management company as a way to entice people to buy.
Their pitch was uh you know we had a few billion in demand.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ipo market
- closed-end funds
- retail earnings
- private credit
- oil prices
Companies and tickers mentioned
- KSS
- Pershing Square USA
- Pershing Square
- Kohl's
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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