Bill Ackman's PSTH scraps Universal Music deal after SEC pushback -but the billionaire investor is still buying a stake
- Bill Ackman's PSTH won't buy 10% of Universal Music for about $4 billion after SEC pushback.
- The billionaire investor's Pershing Square funds will purchase a stake in Universal instead.
- PSTH now plans to pursue a conventional SPAC transaction.
Bill Ackman has scrapped his plan to buy 10% of Universal Music for $4 billion using his special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) after federal regulators poured cold water on the proposed transaction, the billionaire investor told Pershing Square Tontine Holdings (PSTH) shareholders in a letter on Monday.
PSTH will transfer its share-purchase agreement to Ackman's Pershing Square company and its affiliates, the investor wrote. That way, he still becomes a shareholder and Universal-owner Vivendi won't be "left at the altar," he added.
The SPAC's board unanimously decided on Sunday to ditch the Universal deal after speaking to the SEC and realizing the agency would probably nix it. PSTH's directors will now focus on completing a conventional SPAC deal, and have 18 months to close one unless shareholders vote for an extension.
Ackman was caught off guard by the backlash from some PSTH shareholders to the complexity and structure of the original deal, he noted in his letter. The investor also underestimated its potential impact on investors who can't hold foreign securities, margin their shares, or own call options on PSTH stock, he added.
Before the SEC dashed his hopes, Ackman envisaged PSTH shareholders receiving Universal shares after Vivendi takes the division public this September, continuing to own PSTH stock while the SPAC sniffs out a merger free of the usual time constraints, and securing rights to buy shares in a new investment vehicle called a SPARC once it agrees its own transaction.
PSTH's withdrawal from the Universal deal will disappoint some of Ackman's fans, who spent seven months speculating about the identity of his acquisition target. Others who weren't thrilled at the Universal deal might welcome the SPAC hitting the reset button on its search.