Billionaire Investor William Ackman Exits Large Stake in Nomad Foods

Waging a proxy fight to push for change at another portfolio company, billionaire investor William Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, has decided to exit his large stake in Nomad Foods (NASDAQ:$NOMD)

What does this mean for Nomad?

Britain-based Nomad Foods was established in 2014 in hopes of consolidating Europe’s slow-growth 25 billion euro frozen food market.

Shares of Nomad fell more than 4% on Wednesday after Pershing Square Capital Management, the frozen foods company’s largest shareholder started a public offering for the hedge fund’s stake of more than 33 million shares. The stake would be worth $497 million at Tuesday’s closing price of $14.92 a share.

Through a so-called special purpose acquisition company, Ackman first invested in Noman two years ago. He had hoped that the investment would be a bright spot for his firm Pershing, which was posting losses for the third consecutive year.

In the hedge fund’s interim financial report for the first 6 months of 2017, Ackman stated that Noma Foods contributed 1.6% to the portfolio.

Nomad is speculated to purchase a portion of the shares Ackman is selling. The exact amount? Around $100 million.

As for Pershing, after selling out of Nomad, the company will own 9 long positions, overseeing $9.8 billion.

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