Dow Jones Newswires: Bill Ackman shutting SPAC, will return $4 billion to shareholders

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Special purpose acquisition company Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd.
PSTH,
-0.05%

said Monday it will cease all operations except for winding up its business after July 26.

Bill Ackman, the chief executive of special purpose acquisition company, said in a letter to shareholders Monday that the company will return $4 billion of capital in trust to its shareholders.

In his letter, Ackman said, “we have been unable to consummate a transaction that both meets our investment criteria and is executable.”

The company said it will redeem all its outstanding shares of Class A common stock effective July 26, as it will not consummate an initial public offering. The company expects the per-share redemption price to be about $20.05 per share, it said.

In his letter, Ackman said he is working to launch Pershing Square SPARC Holdings Ltd., “a privately funded acquisition vehicle which intends to issue publicly traded, long-term warrants called SPARs.” Ackman also said SPAR owners will have the opportunity to “acquire common stock in the newly merged company, the outcome of a business combination between SPARC and a private company.”

Last month, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Pershing Square SPARC Holdings said it was planning to issue 122,222,222 subscription warrants to purchase two shares of common stock at a minimum price of $10 per share. The company also said it intends to have the SPARs quoted on the OTCQX marketplace of the OTC Markets Group or other quotation service.

On Monday, Ackman said the company intends to distribute SPARs to Pershing Square Tontine security holders as of the close of business on July 25. One-half a SPAR will be distributed for each share of common stock and one SPAR will be distributed for each warrant, he said.

Pershing Square Tontine Holdings filed for a $3 billion initial public offering in June 2020. In June of last year, Vivendi SE agreed to a 10% investment in Universal Music Group by the SPAC. The SPAC later said it has decided not to proceed with the deal, and assigned the share-purchase deal to Pershing Square Holdings Ltd.