Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings down 11.2 percent so far in 2016

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings lost 11.2 percent since the start of the year, beginning 2016 with the same kind of double-digit losses that plagued the fund in 2015.

But there is a small silver lining for Ackman and investors in his $14 billion hedge fund: Losses have eased modestly from the previous week, when the investor said the fund was off 14.5 percent.

The fund ended 2015 with a 20.5 percent loss, the largest in the firm's history. In 2014, it posted a 40 percent gain, which cemented Ackman's tenure as one of the hedge fund industry's biggest stars.

In his annual investment letter to clients, Ackman lamented that his fame might have ironically played a role in his recent terrible returns, noting that many people pile into bets after he takes them first.

"While it is impossible to know for sure, we believe that our continued negative outperformance in the first few weeks of the year relates primarily to forced selling of our holdings by investors whose stakes overlap with our own," Ackman wrote in the letter which was sent to investors on Tuesday and seen by Reuters.

Many hedge funds are nursing heavy losses this month, investors say, as markets have tumbled around the globe, often pushed lower by fears about China's economic health.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• European shares slip as tech drags; Iran sanctions in focus
• Snoring, subways and stealth ads: how big pharma targets China's waistline
• Russia's Ozon says four logistics hubs targeted by Ukrainian drones