<![CDATA[Ackman’s blank check company raises IPO target to $4 billion]]>

<![CDATA[Ackman’s blank check company raises IPO target to $4 billion]]> https://usagag.com/2020/07/13/ackmans-blank-check-company-raises-ipo-target-to-4-billion/ Mon, 13 Jul 2020 19:17:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com Ackman’s blank check company raises IPO target to $4 billion Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, the blank check company backed by billionaire investor Bill Ackman, has increased the size of its initial public offering by $1 billion to $4 billion, the largest ever IPO by a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

The firm plans to go public with 200 million units at $20 each, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.

A SPAC uses IPO proceeds and borrowed funds to acquire a company, typically within two years. Investors are not notified in advance which company a SPAC will buy.

Ackman, whose New York-based hedge fund manages more than $10 billion in assets, may ultimately have $7 billion to invest.

In the filing, Ackman said the company will seek to acquire a venture capital-backed firm that he called a “mature unicorn” that has chosen to remain private.

Reuters first reported Ackman’s plans in June.

Ackman, best known as an activist shareholder who calls for changes at companies, was also a co-sponsor of Justice Holding Inc., a SPAC which acquired restaurant chain Burger King for $1.4 billion in cash in 2012.

Ackman’s latest vehicle will handily beat out former Citigroup executive Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital III Corp CCXX.N, which raised $1.1 billion in February, to become the largest ever SPAC.

Churchill Capital late on Sunday agreed to take health care payment solutions provider Multiplan public in an $11 billion deal.

Ackman is looking to list the SPAC’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PSTH.U”.

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