FILE PHOTO: Bill Ackman, chief executive officer and portfolio manager at Pershing Square Capital Management, speaks during the SALT conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. May 18, 2017. REUTERS/Richard Brian
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor William Ackman’s hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management has made a new bet on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N), according to a regulatory filing made on Wednesday.
This marks the first time that Ackman’s $8 billion fund has announced a new position since late last year when it bought a stake in Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O).
The new stake will be a passive investment for Ackman’s $8 billion firm, a person familiar with the matter said.
Ackman bought 3.5 million of Berkshire’s so-called B shares during the second quarter. The shares, which closed trading at $195.81 on Wednesday, inched up slightly in after hours trading as news of the investment spread.
Ackman last week told investors that he had a new position but declined to identify the company, saying only that it represents roughly 12% of the firm’s net asset value.
That hint prompted heavy speculation about the possible target, pushing up the share price of a number of companies that traders thought might have caught Ackman’s eye.
Berkshire’s stock, however, has been dropping since May.
One reason might be the Kraft-Heinz merger which Berkshire and private equity company 3G Capital engineered in 2015 and which Buffett said earlier this year that he overpaid for.
Ackman has long admired Buffett and said earlier this year that he learned a great deal from the 88-year old, often called the Oracle of Omaha, by studiously reading his investor letters, including the ones he wrote before creating Berkshire Hathaway.
Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Grant McCool and Rosalba O’Brien
