Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Raises $3bn Ahead of Euronext Amsterdam Debut

Pershing Square Holdings, a fund managed by activist investor Bill Ackman, has said that it has raised $3.07bn ahead of an Amsterdam floatation.

The initial public offering (IPO) offers the fund a steady source of income.

The fund, on 1 October, said it has raised $2.73bn through an IPO and that the exercise of an over-allotment option will see the value of the offering rise to over $3bn.

Pershing Square is expected to debut on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange on 13 October.

The fund was priced at $25 a share, valuing it at $6.2bn. UBS and Deutsche Bank acted as underwriters on the offering, reports said.

Amsterdam was chosen over London for the share sale.

Ackman said in a statement: "The completion of the offering of Pershing Square Holdings is a seminal event in the history of the firm."

Pershing Square Holdings had a net asset value of $2.9bn as of June.

It is run by Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, which had assets worth $14.1bn under management as of June 2014.

In May, Ackman joined hands with Canada's Valeant Pharmaceuticals to make a $53bn hostile bid for US-based Botox maker Allergan.

Ackman and Valeant have been trying to acquire Allergan since April 2014.

Pershing Square Capital is Allergan's largest shareholder with a 9.7% stake and the pharma company represents 39% of the hedge fund's portfolio.

Ackman has returned 1,199% since starting his fund in 2004. By comparison, the S&P 500 has returned 119% over the same period, Forbes reported in September.