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Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP built a stake in Canadian investment management giant Brookfield Corporation during the second quarter of 2024, a U.S. regulatory filing released Wednesday showed.  

Ackman’s hedge fund ended the quarter holding 6.8 million shares of Brookfield worth nearly US$285 million, according to the 13F filing. It did not hold any shares at the end of the first quarter. Fund managers who hold more than US$100 million worth of securities are obligated to publicly disclose their holdings four times per year through the SEC filings.

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The position marks the first time Pershing Square has made a new investment in a Canadian company since 2022, when Ackman took a stake in railroad operator Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. Ackman had originally invested in Canadian Pacific in 2011, but sold out in 2016. He has also been a long-term holder of Restaurant Brands International Inc., the parent company to Tim Hortons.

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Ackman has a demonstrated history of buying significant stakes in often underperforming companies and pushing for major changes. At Canadian Pacific, Ackman led the effort to shake up the board and management in 2012, installing a new chief executive after years of underperformance. 

Toronto-based Brookfield, with a market capitalization of more than $105 billion, would not seem to fit that bill. The company reported distributable earnings of US$2.1 billion in its second quarter, up 80 per cent from to the same period last year.

Ackman made headlines earlier in the summer after abruptly withdrawing plans for an initial public offering (IPO) for Pershing Square USA, a fund that would have paralleled his main Pershing Square fund, days before it was slated to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Ackman had already severely downsized the company’s US$25 billion IPO target to just US$2 billion due to low demand. 

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In August, Bloomberg reported Pershing Square’s 2024 gains had been nearly wiped out after losing 4.7 per cent in July.

Still, the hedge fund has bounced back from notable losses in the past, returning 26.7 per cent last year following an 8.8 per cent loss in 2022. 

Wednesday’s regulatory filing also shows Pershing Square made a new investment in Nike Inc., buying around 3 million shares in the second quarter, causing the sportswear titan’s stock to jump by as much as 5.5 per cent in after-market trading. The hedge fund slashed large holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Google parent company Alphabet Inc. as well.

Pershing Square declined to comment on the Brookfield investment.

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