Jump to content

Pershing Square Holdings debuts ...


kiwing100

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 63
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

• As of close of business on Oct. 10:

• NAV per public share as per IFRS was $24.41

 

    “The stock is down, which is good,” Ackman said. “If it

went up we’d have sold it too low.”

 

Uhh, isn't this a closed-end fund with a NAV based on cash and liquid securities?  How would they have sold it too low if it popped?  This isn't the BABA IPO Bill.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any man wo can start from absolute scratch in a tough, competitive industry and build a $5 billion business is someone I want to be partnered with.

--Warren Buffett praising the CEO of Shaw Industries

 

Investors can look at our track record and get on the train or get off. It's that simple.

--Shaw CEO Robert Shaw

 

I know I will get on the train with Bill Ackman. He is a self-made billionaire and has the right track record. Maybe not just now, but sooner or later I surely will.

 

Cheers,

 

Gio

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing that rubs me the wrong way about Ackman is his promotional behavior and bets that get bigger and seemingly riskier.  Eventually he is going to write a check his investors will be unable to cash and his reputation will be ruined along with much of his investors capital. 

 

His credibility is spotty when you consider Pershing set up a side fund to invest in Target options so it would not ruin the performance of his main fund.  There are many instances of reckless behavior by Ackman which would preclude me from ever investing in his fund.

 

That said he has been able to get some pretty good inside deals for his shareholders.  BKW, PAH and AGN were real value adds as being a Pershing client. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing that rubs me the wrong way about Ackman is his promotional behavior and bets that get bigger and seemingly riskier.  Eventually he is going to write a check his investors will be unable to cash and his reputation will be ruined along with much of his investors capital. 

 

I don’t agree. And I would suggest to read [amazonsearch]Confidence Game[/amazonsearch]. Ackman is a true workaholic and I would never bet against him.

 

Gio

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing that rubs me the wrong way about Ackman is his promotional behavior and bets that get bigger and seemingly riskier.  Eventually he is going to write a check his investors will be unable to cash and his reputation will be ruined along with much of his investors capital. 

 

I don’t agree. And I would suggest to read [amazonsearch]Confidence Game[/amazonsearch]. Ackman is a true workaholic and I would never bet against him.

 

Gio

 

I've read it and followed Ackman for a while.  It is clear that he is taking larger risks as he becomes more successful.  Everyone always points to that book when Ackman takes a big stake in a lousy investment.

 

He does work very hard, in fact harder than most hedge fund managers so I think he earns his fees.  But the risks one takes in investments does not always show up in alpha/beta and standard deviation figures.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is clear that he is taking larger risks as he becomes more successful.

 

What do you mean by "larger risks"? Larger positions? A more concentrated portfolio? An activist investor is practically forced to focus on very few positions. I don't know of any activist who is "widely diversified".

 

Gio

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im implying his large short positions that he is way too emotionally involved in. That would worry me if i invest alongside with him. Seems to me he is working very hard on the wrong things with his enormous herbalife presentations.

 

He should just focus on his long positions, that is what hes good at. And not go in pointless battles with other billionaire investors like icahn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Put $2 billion in Target, lost $1.8 billion.

 

With less than $10 billion of AUM, he put 10% of it in a naked short position on HLF.  George Soros has a tough stomach but even that guy redeemed after those shennanigans.

 

When everyone else is investing in the preferred, Ackman goes for the equity of FNMA and FMCC.  At least he kept it under 10% of his AUM in case that one goes to zero.

 

Even his claim to fame in MBIA was largely due to outside forces unrelated to his original thesis.  Nice to be lucky versus smart sometimes.

 

The bets simply get bigger and more reckless.  He makes a lot of great calls but I worry about the day he is wrong on more than just a couple positions. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

His credibility is spotty when you consider Pershing set up a side fund to invest in Target options so it would not ruin the performance of his main fund. 

 

 

I love Ackman, but I have to agree with this. Let's not forget the failed golf course investment in his old fund, which was closed down, and replaced by Pershing Square - which included a fresh new track record.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He surely has made some mistakes… Anyway, who hasn’t?

Despite those mistakes, he enjoys a great track record and has become a billionaire… I wish I knew how to make the same mistakes!! ;D

And think what he could accomplish, if he has learnt his lessons and won’t repeat the same mistakes in the future! ;)

 

Gio

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got respect for Ackman, I'd never bet against him, but he is way too competitive for my liking. Competitiveness is not a bad thing, but his drives him to do irrational things, and pushes him from investing to gambling.

 

I think the anecdote about him and Loeb cycling sums him up pretty well. And also this one.

 

In 1984, when he was a junior at Horace Greeley High School, in affluent Chappaqua, New York, he wagered his father $2,000 that he would score a perfect 800 on the verbal section of the S.A.T. The gamble was everything Ackman had saved up from his Bar Mitzvah gift money and his allowance for doing household chores. “I was a little bit of a cocky kid,” he admits, with uncharacteristic understatement.

 

Tall, athletic, handsome with cerulean eyes, he was the kind of hyper-ambitious kid other kids loved to hate and just the type to make a big wager with no margin for error. But on the night before the S.A.T., his father took pity on him and canceled the bet. “I would’ve lost it,” Ackman concedes. He got a 780 on the verbal and a 750 on the math. “One wrong on the verbal, three wrong on the math,” he muses. “I’m still convinced some of the questions were wrong.”

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/02/bill-ackman-daniel-loeb-bike-ride

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He surely has made some mistakes… Anyway, who hasn’t?

Despite those mistakes, he enjoys a great track record and has become a billionaire… I wish I knew how to make the same mistakes!! ;D

And think what he could accomplish, if he has learnt his lessons and won’t repeat the same mistakes in the future! ;)

 

Gio

 

I think you are being too forgiving.  You should be one of my investors so the next time I make a mistake on the tune of losing 2 billion in Target options your response is "Can you imagine how much you will learn from this?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't mind the mistakes so much. Everybody makes mistakes and in this case he's right far more often than he's wrong. It's the inaccurate track record that bothers me.

 

Definitely. 

 

So shares of PSH closed at $22 from the offering price of $25.  Not a bad discount if you believe in Mr. Ackman.

 

On a side note, when Third Point came out with their closed-end in 2007 it was pretty much top ticking the market.  I wonder if we will look back and see a similar story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love Ackman - having attended a number of his presentations. He is brilliant and does his homework.

I sat through his detailed thesis on GGP, HHC, FBSH, PAF and CP Rail. All 3-4 baggers in just a few years.

 

And, yes he makes mistakes - JCP, the Herbalife controversy depending where it ends up.

 

I respect his courage of conviction and willingness to share his detailed work.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...