- Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has seen assets drop $1.6 billion in five months.
- The firm managed about $11 billion at the end of May and about $9.4 billion at the end of October.
- The firm's Pershing Square Holdings vehicle is down 3.3% for the year through October.
- News of the asset drop follows Ackman's decision to restructure his unprofitable Herbalife short.
Assets at Bill Ackman's Pershing Square have dropped by $1.6 billion in five months.
The firm managed about $11 billion at the end of May and about $9.4 billion at the end of October, according to the website for Pershing Square Holdings, a publicly traded Pershing vehicle. That latest figure includes $500 million Pershing Square recently raised to target Automatic Data Processing, the human-resources firm.
Pershing Square Holdings, which is considered a proxy for the flagship hedge fund, is down 3.3% for the year through October.
The fund was up 4.3% this year through May but lost 2.1% through October. That suggests assets have dropped, in part, because of redemptions.
Pershing Square investors can redeem one-eighth of their capital per quarter, meaning it takes two years to redeem in full. A significant portion of the firm's assets, about $4.3 billion out of $9.4 billion, are held in Pershing Square Holdings and cannot be redeemed.
Pershing Square is an activist hedge fund, meaning it takes positions in stocks of companies it hopes to change.
The fund has been on a campaign to shake up ADP and has a position in Chipotle.
Ackman said earlier this week that Pershing Square had exited its short position in Herbalife and was betting against the company with options. The activist took a $1 billion bet against the nutritional supplements company in 2012, planning for the stock to fall, but it has since risen.