Pershing Square Capital Management
104898 views
Rate Now:
average rating: 3.53 / 100 ratings
DESCRIPTION:
Date updated:09-23-2008
Pershing Square Capital Management is a $2.4 billion+ activist hedge fund managed by Bill Ackman that has had 40%+ returns over the past 2 years. Ackman cut his teeth in the real estate business, working for his father at commercial real estate mortgage brokerage firm Ackman Brothers & Singer. In 1993, he launched Gotham Partners, eventually growing the hedge fund to over $300 million in assets.
Gotham imploded in 2002 amid a series of lawsuits related to a failed merger between one of the firm's holdings (a court had blocked the merger, but a higher court later overturned the ruling) and investigations by the New York State Attorney General and the Securities and Exchange Commission into the fund's trading and research practices. The investigations yielded no findings, but investor redemptions forced Gotham to close its doors.
Ackman re-emerged in late 2003 with Pershing Square, whose original investors included a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE: LUK). Over the past two-plus years, Ackman has agitated for change at Wendy's International Inc. (NYSE: WEN) and McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), helping to force the former to spin off its Tim Hortons Inc. (NYSE: THI) donut chain, and the latter to buy back $1 billion in stock.
In November 2006, Ackman made news when he disclosed that Pershing Square had taken a more than 10% stake in Borders Group Inc. (NYSE: BGP - News), while simultaneously increasing its stake to over 5% in rival Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS - News). In December 2006, he won a battle against Eddie Lampert over Sears Holdings Corporation's (Nasdaq: SHLD) proposed acquisition of Sears Canada. SHLD was able to increase its stake in Sears Canada to 70%, but a minority shareholder group led by Pershing Square scored court and regulatory victories, prohibiting an actual takeover.
In the publication, Nation's Restaurant News, Ackman discussed his interest in restaurant stocks and McDonalds in particular, a stock where he was an activist:
" How did you become interested in restaurant stocks?
It wasn't restaurant stocks, per se, but I got interested in McDonald's after reading a book called "Behind the Golden Arches" eight or nine years ago. I was interested in the company because I am a customer. It is one of the great brands of the world.
One of the things that jumped out at me from the book was how Harry Sonneborn [the chain's first chief executive] considered McDonald's to be a real-estate company. That line made me think about the company in a different way.
Advertisement
Do you plan to be a long-term shareholder in McDonald's and Wendy's?
It depends on the price. We buy things when they are discounted, and once they reach the potential of what we think they are worth, we sell. It could take months, or it could take years. That is our business.
I don't think there will be one unhappy shareholder at the time that we sell because the stock price is likely to be meaningfully higher than where it is now. As a general matter, we tend to hold things well in excess of a year."
-
TGT
Target Cp - $43.66
- -2.33%
- $45.75
% of portfolio: 52%
-
SHLD
Sears Hldgs Corp - $87.32
- -0.33%
- $88.00
% of portfolio: 29.4%
-
BKS
Barnes & Noble - $26.64
- +2.90%
- $26.35
% of portfolio: 8.5%
-
WEN
Wendys/arby's Grp - $4.63
- -1.70%
- $4.97
% of portfolio: 7.0%
-
BGP
Borders Group Inc - $5.94
- -6.46%
- $6.45
No Analysis added
-
GLRE
Greenlight Cap. R - $16.11
- 0.00%
- $N/A
No Analysis added
-
CBY
Cadbury Plc - $39.74
- 0.00%
- $N/A
No Analysis added
- Top Professional Portfolios
- 1. The Children's Investm...
- 2. Navellier & Associ...
- 3. T. Rowe Price New Era ...
- 4. Joel Greenblatt
- 5. Neuberger Berman Genes...
- show all
- Top Do-It-Yourself Portfolios
- » Blank
- » Drew's List
- » Robin Retirement
- » The Eagle's Nest
- » beech hill
- show all
- Most Viewed Portfolios
- » Warren Buffett
- » 10 Short Squeezes
- » George Soros
- » T. Boone Pickens - BP Cap...
- » Carl Icahn
- show all
Obama Index vs. McCain Index
Barack Obama Stock Index versus John McCain Stock Index If you look at the companies that major contributors to the presidential candidates are connected with, you ca...
10.05.08 | 23:53 PM
Cramer's Take on Top-Searched St...
Credit markets remained strained while stocks remained volatile on Friday, trying to figure out which way this market would go with the approved bailout plan. The one ob...
10.05.08 | 23:12 PM
These Dow Stocks Are Strong Buys
By Stockpickr Guest Columnist Doug Hall In the “olden days,” families used to all take a bath using the same tub of water. The last one was the baby of the family. B...
10.05.08 | 22:44 PM
Four Potential Bailout Plays
more articles
By Stockpickr Guest Columnist Glen Bradford Henry Paulson might as well be Howie Mandel from the the TV game show Deal or No Deal. The show's banker in this case would b...
10.05.08 | 22:01 PM
General market Technical Analysi...
11.14.07 | 22:55 PM From author
ZackAttack
MOS: This Stock Is an Absolute Joke
10.03.08 | 22:24 PM From author
jim553
Tramadol
10.06.08 | 02:14 AM From author
flottepriolve
Reading charts
more forums
08.16.08 | 09:03 AM From author
Peter near Matanzas Inlet
Q.
jim
by wed for sure rate cut,...
10.06.08 | 10:06 AM Asked by
ecirpm
A. take it to zero (like japan)did......ya
see where it got them....don't
ya?.......it's not the answer
Q.
whoa Dow can't seem to make its ...
06.30.08 | 15:28 PM Asked by
Xaviar
A. small trading before thrusday
today 's lists
52-Week Low
Each day we'll select up to 10 stocks on the 52-week low list and give commentary. This is not a comprehensive list of the 52-week low list but just select stocks we think ... more
Biggest % Losers
Here is the stock list of the largest % losers from the prior trading day. more
TheStreet.com TV Videos - Sept. 26
These are some of the stocks mentioned today on TheStreet.com TV. Click the URL below each stock to watch the video. . more
10/05/2007 17:01 PM CDT Asked by DogBones
William Ackman recently disclosed a 5 million share stake in SHLD.
Story here:
http://13dtracker.blogspot.com/search/label/Pershing%20Square%20Capital