Pershing Square Holdings

[Dod101]

This is a closed end investment fund incorporated in Guernsey, about which I know next to nothing. It invests in a small number of US companies and I am attracted by that and the massive discount to NAV of about 35%. The Directors do not have a lot to say about that except that they consider the shares to be very undervalued. It is not a small company.

Does anyone have anything to say on this company, good or bad?

Dod

[BullDog]

Depends on your attitude towards "star managers" I would say. Pershing Square is a vanity project for Bill Ackman as far as I can see. I have no idea if it's going to be a good investment. The last I remember of Ackman was when he changed his mind on Netflix and lost a lot of money.

Mind you, Warren Buffet did the same with Tesco and others too.

[toofast2live]

A good “bet” in my view. Ackman likely to move it to the us, probably within 5% of NAV. Because of its holdings and large allocations it’s unlikely to be correlated with tradional equity trusts.

https://citywire.com/investment-trust-i ... &utm_pos=1

[Dod101]

OTOH I could go conventional and buy JPM America but it is on a mere 1.5% to NAV. I am looking for something with a US flavour. Anyway will take another look before long.

Dod

[BullDog]

OTOH I could go conventional and buy JPM America but it is on a mere 1.5% to NAV. I am looking for something with a US flavour. Anyway will take another look before long.

Dod

I'm sure you'll already have looked at it, but I commend JGGI as a solid option with a significant USA tilt. I like the 4% of NAV income as a policy.

HTH.

[richfool]

This is a closed end investment fund incorporated in Guernsey, about which I know next to nothing. It invests in a small number of US companies and I am attracted by that and the massive discount to NAV of about 35%. The Directors do not have a lot to say about that except that they consider the shares to be very undervalued. It is not a small company.

Does anyone have anything to say on this company, good or bad?

Dod

If it's of any help, Pershing Square is in the Top Ten holdings of: AVI Global (AGT), as is Oakley Capital.

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-sear ... rd-gbp0.02

[Dod101]

This is a closed end investment fund incorporated in Guernsey, about which I know next to nothing. It invests in a small number of US companies and I am attracted by that and the massive discount to NAV of about 35%. The Directors do not have a lot to say about that except that they consider the shares to be very undervalued. It is not a small company.

Does anyone have anything to say on this company, good or bad?

Dod

If it's of any help, Pershing Square is in the Top Ten holdings of: AVI Global (AGT), as is Oakley Capital.

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-sear ... rd-gbp0.02

That is interesting. I used many years ago to hold AVI Global when it had another name (which I have now forgotten)

Dod

[richfool]

If it's of any help, Pershing Square is in the Top Ten holdings of: AVI Global (AGT), as is Oakley Capital.

https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-sear ... rd-gbp0.02

That is interesting. I used many years ago to hold AVI Global when it had another name (which I have now forgotten)

Dod

British Empire Trust, investing in undervalued investments.

[SalvorHardin]

I've owned some shares for several years, primarily after seeing how Bill Ackman turned Canadian Pacific (CP) around. Ackman bought 14.2% of CP in 2011 and with the help of some large shareholders replaced most of the bond with his own picks.

The key was replacing the CEO and implementing precision railroading. My CP shares are a ten-bagger since then and are my second biggest holding.

I though after seeing the CP turnaround for a couple of years that his fund was worth a look. So I bought a few shares. It's been a very good performer, though it's not a big holding for me (about one-sixth the size of my CP holding). Around 16% p.a. return over the past twenty years

The big negative is the 1.5% annual fee. Somewhat offset by the big discount to NAV. And of course by its track record.

It's a very concentrated fund. Ackman sold CP a few years ago but recently bought back into CP (something like 11% to 12% of Pershing Square Holdings).

There's a decent article on Seeking Alpha covering the Q2 results (link below, also link to the Pershing Square page)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4002606-bill-ackmans-pershing-square-adds-to-alphabet-stake-in-q2-trims-chipotle-lowes

https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/PSHZF

https://pershingsquareholdings.com/

[MaraMan]

John Barron has recently added it to his Summer Portfolio, and maybe others, I am not sure.

MM

[Dod101]

I must say that SeekingAlpha contributors are nothing if not direct and to the point! I will take another look at the Annual Report of Pershing. I find it interesting if nothing else. The Chair of Pershing is a recently appointed director of Caledonia Investments which I find quite intriguing. Caledonia directors are not stupid.

The fees are pretty much par for the course for a hedge fund but I am not sure that Pershing is quite that. The fee structure (including the Performance Fee) would suggest that though. I am very interested.

Dod

[BullDog]

I must say that SeekingAlpha contributors are nothing if not direct and to the point! I will take another look at the Annual Report of Pershing. I find it interesting if nothing else. The Chair of Pershing is a recently appointed director of Caledonia Investments which I find quite intriguing. Caledonia directors are not stupid.

The fees are pretty much par for the course for a hedge fund but I am not sure that Pershing is quite that. The fee structure (including the Performance Fee) would suggest that though. I am very interested.

Dod

I for one will be very interested to hear your take on PSH. I'm sure others will be too.

[Dod101]

I must say that SeekingAlpha contributors are nothing if not direct and to the point! I will take another look at the Annual Report of Pershing. I find it interesting if nothing else. The Chair of Pershing is a recently appointed director of Caledonia Investments which I find quite intriguing. Caledonia directors are not stupid.

The fees are pretty much par for the course for a hedge fund but I am not sure that Pershing is quite that. The fee structure (including the Performance Fee) would suggest that though. I am very interested.

Dod

I for one will be very interested to hear your take on PSH. I'm sure others will be too.

Dear me! There is no reason for you to worry about what I think. I am no expert but I am thinking of maybe a small punt. At the very least it could not be worse than one or two of my current holdings. It would be in my growth portfolio of course and bought on the LSE. A bit more thinking over the next 24 hours though.

Dod

[BullDog]

I for one will be very interested to hear your take on PSH. I'm sure others will be too.

Dear me! There is no reason for you to worry about what I think. I am no expert but I am thinking of maybe a small punt. At the very least it could not be worse than one or two of my current holdings. It would be in my growth portfolio of course and bought on the LSE. A bit more thinking over the next 24 hours though.

Dod

You're right. I'm not worried.

[Dod101]

Thinking about this, I am certain that Ackman’s motives are not aligned with mine and I am not sure that the Board of Pershing would be able to do more than just be the ringmaster for him. I think I will give it a miss.

I already hold JGGI so I am again turning back to JPM America. We’ll see.

Dod

[richfool]

Thinking about this, I am certain that Ackman’s motives are not aligned with mine and I am not sure that the Board of Pershing would be able to do more than just be the ringmaster for him. I think I will give it a miss.

I already hold JGGI so I am again turning back to JPM America. We’ll see.

Dod

In terms of the US, apart from BRSA which has a higher yield, rather than hold/add a growth (only) trust like JAM (JP Morgan America), I too rely on my larger holdings of trusts like JGGI and SAIN for their exposure to the US (and Alliance).

Re Pershing Square, you maybe interested in this post about AVI Global, which holds Pershing Square, on this AVI thread: viewtopic.php?p=614126#p614126

[monabri]

I think that there was an event around 2020 where the PSH manager took a contrarian market view on oversold stocks, piled in and subsequently did very well. I've not checked the PSH annual reports to see if this was indeedthe strategy (because I'm not thinking of investing with PSH but it might be of interest for anyone who is considering it).

Can he repeat it..will he be given the opportunity or was it a one off down to circumstances? I think the time to invest in PSH was 5 years ago (hindsight).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... e%20passed.

"In the beginning of the COVID-19 US epidemic in March 2020, sweeping lockdowns and other aggressive measures were put in place and retained in many states until end of August of 2020"

5 Year Total Returns - PSH versus Vanguard's S&P500 Tracker VUSA.

Comment : The US market has provided attractive "total return" over the last 5 years as evidenced by VUSA at c.70% But PSH trounced it with a TR of 180%.

source https://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discoun ... ion/charts



3 Year Total Returns - PSH versus Vanguard's S&P500 Tracker VUSA.
If one looks back over the last 3 years, both the tracker and PSH have posted good returns but the difference between the 2 funds has reduced.

[Swanmore22]

I have owned PSH for a number of years and have bought more this year, it represents a small part of overall p/folio,
Bill Ackman is hands on and between him and other staff they own 25% of the trust/hedge fund.
The widening discount is a real concern for them.
A progressive qtly dividend policy is in place plus a $100m share buyback , should help narrow but l/term the narrowing will come from consistent and steady outperformance and many investors will dislike the periods when they underperform.
I like the contrarian approach .Look at the past rate hedges .
Some may say this is outsize punting in bond markets, I don"t mind as the option premiums are not excessive and there are no long term commitments.
Selecting the time frame for the bet to pay off is key and Bill"s team have nailed a few big plays.See attached report.
The current ratre hedge in place re higher for longer US l/term is working well.
The drawkback with PSH is when they get involved in clever dick trades such as Vivendi spinning off Universal Music , there can be a drag on performance
There is a SPAC or SPARC in place which I think was initiated to buy Univeral out of Vivendi , it will be utilised to "float something in the future".

The rest of the equity p/folio is concentrated around Restaurant Brands, Burger King the main franchise in UK,Hilton Hotels,Lowe"s,Kansas Railroad and Hilton Properties.Big stakes in big ,"boring" ?companies.

rateshttps://assets.pershingsquareholdi ... nterim.pdf

Swan

[SalvorHardin]

An interesting article about Canadian Pacific has been put up on Seeking Alpha. Part of it looks at Bill Ackman's recent remarks about Canadian Pacific. As I've said previously, I was impressed with what Mr. Ackman did in 2012 when he shook up a somewhat sleepy Canadian Pacific by buying a load of shares and installing his own pic as CEO (I held some shares back then and still do).

"My favorite Railroad - Why Billionaires Own Canadian Pacific Kansas City"
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4636838-my-favorite-railroad-why-billionaires-own-canadian-pacific

Prospective investors should be aware that Pershing Square is not your usual investment trust; rather it is a high concentration activist publicly quoted hedge fund that happens to be called an investment trust. Back in March, Ackman has said that he has given up short selling activism, but in August he said that Pershing has taken out a short position on 30 year US Treasuries and he (and his colleagues) remains an activist investor on the long side (I haven't yet found anything about the US Treasuries position in Pershing' published information).

"Bill Ackman is done with activist short-selling, will focus on quieter, long-term approach"
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/29/bill-ackman-is-done-with-activist-short-selling-will-focus-on-quieter-long-term-approach.html

"Billionaire investor William Ackman on Wednesday said his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management has placed a bet against U.S. 30-year Treasuries, calling it both a hedge on the impact of higher long-term rates on stocks and a good standalone bet."
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/billionaire-investor-ackman-says-he-is-shorting-30-year-treasuries-2023-08-03/

[BobGe]

"My favorite Railroad - Why Billionaires Own Canadian Pacific Kansas City"
Archived link: https://archive.ph/8MTE5