New York (HedgeCo.net) – The overall market may have moved higher last week, but Bill Ackman didn’t have a good week at all as two of his largest holdings fell sharply during the week.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) is Ackman’s largest holding, or at least it was. After falling 34.6%, VRX may not be the largest holding in the Pershing Square fund. If that weren’t enough to create a bad week by itself, another of the fund’s major holdings fell 12.6% on the week.
Platform Specialty Products (NYSE: PAH) was the second holding and the drop came about after the company announced that their CEO, Dan Leever, will retire when the company finds a suitable replacement for him.
Since peaking at $28.44 in June, PAH has lost over 60% to close at $11.03 on Friday. Valeant peaked at $263.81 in August and has now lost 56% in the last two and a half months.
Pershing Square lost 9.2% in August and then another 12.5% in September. The fund had been in positive territory prior to those back-to-back losing months and now two of its biggest holdings experienced huge losses last week. That isn’t exactly what Mr. Ackman wanted to have happen.
Rick Pendergraft
Research Analyst
HedgeCoVest