Ackman’s Pershing Square Wants in on the SPAC Action

Rumored to be working on a $1 billion+ SPAC IPO filing.

If you thought the SPAC market wasn’t hot enough, news broke this morning that Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management is apparently working on a $1 billion plus SPAC IPO. 

Naturally, the filing is still confidential, but what’s remarkable is that the news already name checks the banks working on this deal – Jefferies, UBS, and Citigroup. Plus, many of the news outlets also provide an oddly competitive reference to Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp. III, which raised $1.1 billion back in February. Foley Trasimene might take issue with being left out of that conversation at $1.035 billion….

Nevertheless, Ackman does have prior experience having participated in Martin Franklin’s Justice Holdings Ltd, an LSE listed SPAC, which acquired restaurant chain Burger King for $1.4 billion in cash in 2012 (It re-listed on the NYSE and is now Restaurant Brands International NYSE: QSR).

This will be another hot IPO once it comes to market and if the rumors are true, it will be the biggest SPAC ever to price.  Which begs the question….what is this SPAC looking to buy?  The prospectus should make for some interesting reading, but since this news dropped today, maybe we can expect the S-1 to file tomorrow night.

We’ll have to wait and see…