Ackman’s Pershing Square Cuts Its Stake in Beam Inc (BEAM)

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management L.P., has considerably reduced its exposure in Beam Inc. (NYSE:BEAM), a filing with the SEC shows. Pershing Square reported holding 11.67 million shares of the company, down from 20.82 million held previously. The current stake amasses 7.1% of the company’s common stock.

Earlier in January, Pershing Square sold around 6.0 million shares and 1.3 million shares of Beam Inc. (NYSE:BEAM). According to its latest filing, the fund disposed another 1.85 million shares in the past couple of weeks for a total consideration of $154.06 million.

Beam Inc. (NYSE:BEAM) is a global premium spirits company with a market cap of $13.62 billion. The Deerfield based company manufactures and sells branded distilled spirits products.

Earlier this year, the company reported record net sales of $2.55 billion, up by 4.0% from the previous year. The spirits company did not release earnings guidance for 2014 due to the pending sale of the company to the Japanese company Suntory Holdings for a total of $16.0 billion.

Bill Ackman is a long term value investor, taking advantage of short term downward moves in prices. He has achieved success particularly with special situations investments. Pershing Square has a very concentrated portfolio. The total portfolio value was equivalent to $8.23 billion at the end of last year, with the fund’s holdings spread across seven companies.

Late last month, Pershing Square bought 29.1 million shares of Platform Specialty Products Corporation (NYSE:PAH). The current stake amasses 22% of all outstanding stocks of the high-tech specialty chemical products’ company. The company has recently started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pershing Square Capital Management had the largest investment in Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE:CP). At the end of December 2013, it held 23.13 million shares of the company, worth $2.85 billion. Another big holding in its equity portfolio is Air Products & Chemical, Inc., (NYSE:APD), in which the fund reported 20.55 million shares, valued at $2.19 billion.

Disclosure: none

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