Seth Klarman Bets Big On Bill Ackman, Other SPACs

Hedge fund manager Seth Klarman revealed several investments in SPACs during the third quarter, including a big bet on the largest SPAC from Bill Ackman.

What Happened: A 13F filing from the third quarter reveals Klarman's Baupost Fund took a new 17.5 million-share stake in Pershing Square Tontine PSTH, the SPAC from Bill Ackman. The fund also bought 1.94 million PSTH warrants.

Other SPACs purchased by Klarman’s fund were Broadstone Acquisition Corp BSN, RedBall Acquisition Corp RBAC, Reinvent Technology Partners RTP and Vesper Healthcare Acquisition Corp VSPR.

Related Link: Bill Ackman Bets Against Market Recovery Again Despite Covid-19 Vaccine Hopes

Why It’s Important: The Pershing SPAC raised over $4 billion in the largest deal of the year. The SPAC has been linked to mergers with Airbnb, Stripe and Bloomberg. 

Klarman could be betting on the names behind these SPACs as he is following Ackman with Pershing, Billy Beane with Redball, Mark Pincus and Reid Hoffman with Reinvent and the former CEO of Allergan with Vesper.

PSTH Price Action: Shares of Pershing Square Tontine Holdings are up 3% to $23.81 at publication time. Shares have traded as high as $24.70 since going public.