Activist hedge fund manager William Ackman has boosted his exposure to a pair of retail targets.
His Pershing Square Asset Management this week revealed that its exposure to discount retailer Target Corp. has increased from to 12.63% from 12.6%, and its exposure to bookseller Borders Group rose from 21.8% to 24.4%.
Both figures represent ownership stakes and stock-settled call options and cash-settled total return swaps, and not just voting power. In fact, Ackman’s voting stake in Target declined slightly, from about 10% to 9.7%, as Pershing Square shed roughly 2.5 million shares.
Pershing Square owns an 18% voting stake in Borders.