Bill Ackman Takes a Large Stake in Nomad Foods
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management has revealed a large equity stake in Nomad Foods, a London-based special-purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) created to acquire food businesses across Europe. The Ackman-led $20 billion hedge-fund management firm paid $350 million to acquire a 21.7 percent stake in Nomad Foods, Forbes reports.
Nomad Foods was co-founded by Noam Gottesman and Martin Franklin last year in London. The company rapidly moved to acquire several European food companies. Last month the firm bought the frozen-food company Iglo Foods for $2.9 billion. Iglo is Europe’s largest frozen-food producer. In 2014, frozen-food giant controlled estimated 3.3 percent of the global frozen-foods business. After buying Iglo, Nomad Foods was reportedly in talks to acquire another big frozen-food manufacturer, Findus. A combination of Iglo and Findus could create a huge frozen food empire with a wide product range.
The details of the recent transactions relating to Nomad Foods were revealed in a filing made in the London Stock Exchange. According to the disclosure, Pershing Square crossed the 20 percent threshold in the UK-based acquisition vehicle on May 26.
Bill Ackman founded Pershing Square Capital Management in 2004. The 49 year-old hedge fund manager has made some high-profile investments in large corporations including McDonlands, JC Penney and Target Corporation.
Read more about: Bill Ackman, Business/Finance, Europe, Finance, Findus, Food and drink, Food Industry, Frozen food, Iglo, IGLO FOODS GROUP LIMITED, Investment, London, Martin Franklin, Noam Gottesman, Nomad, Nomad Foods, Pershing Square Capital Management, PERSHING SQUARE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT L.P., USD