Investors are reportedly pulling out of Bill Ackman's hedge fund at a 'rapid pace'

Ackman, Bill Ackman

Reuters/ Brian Snyder

• Institutional investors are pulling out of Pershing Square Capital at a "rapid pace," according to The Wall Street Journal.

• Pershing Square's total assets reportedly declined by 12%, to $8.2 billion, in the first quarter of 2018.

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Institutional investors are pulling money out of Pershing Square Capital at a "rapid pace," according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Citing people familiar with the matter, The Journal reported Thursday that "about two-thirds of the cash that could be withdrawn at the end of the year" was "being pulled" from the fund. The fund makes one-eighth of its capital available for redemption each quarter.

Firms pulling cash from Pershing Square include Blackstone Group, The Journal said, while J.P. Morgan Asset Management has reportedly told clients it can no longer recommend investing in the fund.

Pershing Square's total assets reportedly declined by 12%, to $8.2 billion, in the first quarter of 2018.

Bill Ackman, the Pershing Square founder who was once tipped as the next Warren Buffett, is stepping back from investor relations, The Journal said, adding that Pershing was shrinking its staff and was not seeking to replace the money fleeing from the fund.

Two high-profile bets, against the company Herbalife and in favor of the company Valeant, cost Ackman and Pershing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ackman has been involved in a high-profile public spat with his fellow billionaire investor Carl Icahn over the fortunes of Herbalife.

Icahn for a while held a long position in Herbalife, while Ackman was short the maker of healthcare supplements. Ackman ultimately lost that fight after Pershing Square exited its $1 billion short position, most likely at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.

A spokesman for Pershing Square declined to comment.

You can read The Wall Street Journal's full story here.

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