Follow the money: These are the stocks Canada’s biggest investment funds have been betting on
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“Lightspeed is kind of interesting because Lightspeed’s one where they showed strong resilience and strong growth through the pandemic but on the flip side, they will also benefit clearly from the economy reopening and the world getting back to normal because of the fact their primary customer base has significant bricks-and-mortar exposure,” he said. “It’s different from other tech stocks.”
Everyone’s investing in Bill Ackman’s SPAC (PSTH/NYSE)
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman made history in July when he brought the largest Special Purpose Acquisition Company public with a US$4 billion raise. Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd., plans to use the proceeds of the IPO to acquire a minority stake in a company valued in the tens of billions of dollars, although he hasn’t revealed which one as of yet.
Ackman’s SPAC drew the attention of a several big-name institutional investors, including T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Guggenheim Partners. Among them were three of the largest pension funds in Canada.
Of the three, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s US$256 million investment, as well as another US$9 million in warrants, was by far the most significant.
Ackman and the OTPP have a history of working together. In 2012, Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. led a push to have the Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. change its board and chief executive and gained the support of the OTPP, another of CP Rail’s large institutional investors. Pershing’s proxy fight was successful — it saw all its nominations for the board pushed through and Hunter Harrison replaced Fred Green as CEO.
