Ackman's Pershing Square requests UMG to move secondary listing to US (updated)

Pershing Square Holdings

15/01/2025 23:14

(Adds details and background in paragraphs 2 to 7)
       Jan 16 (Reuters) - Universal Music Group  UMG.AS  said
on Wednesday that billionaire Bill Ackman-led Pershing Square
 PSH.AS  has exercised its right to request an offering and
secondary listing of the record label in the United States.
        In November, Ackman said he would seek to relocate both
his own investment firm Pershing Square and UMG - whose roster
of stars includes Taylor Swift - away from Amsterdam, following
attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the city.
    He has also previously reduced his stake in UMG to 7.48%
from 10%, according to data compiled by LSEG, after the record
label denied his request to delist from Euronext Amsterdam.
    UMG, in November, said that Pershing Square had the right to
request a U.S. listing, provided that a Pershing entity sells at
least $500 million worth of its shares as part of the listing.
    However, this right does not require the record label to
become a U.S.-domiciled company or to delist from Euronext
Amsterdam, the company had added.
    UMG has now said it would launch an underwritten offering
for the sale of certain shares owned by Pershing by Sept. 15. 
    "We waived the 120-day filing requirement and extended the
date to mid-September in order for UMG to have an appropriate
amount of time to complete the listing and offering in a manner
best for the company and its shareholders," Ackman said in a
post on X. 
    Pershing Square delisted its shares from Euronext Amsterdam
in December. 

 (Reporting by Urvi Dugar; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
 ((UrviManoj.Dugar@thomsonreuters.com;))