Bill Ackman Shorting BP Debt (BP)

Pershing Square Capital Management fund manager Bill Ackman said he is shorting BP BP debt using credit default swaps, writes the New York Post. Ackman said that the company has damaged its ability to operate in the U.S., and as such, Ackman is seeking to profit off this. Ackman also went to say that given the inevitable legal liabilities the company will face, buying the the CDS on the debt was particularly cheap. This comes as Ackman is in a battle to gain control of apartment complex Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village. Earlier in the month, Ackman teamed up with Winthrop Realty Trust FUR to purchase a second mortgage on the property, valued at $300 million, for $45 million, or 15 cents on the dollar. Shares of BP are sliding on the news, up 20 cents to $35.45 after having traded as high as $36.20.