Activist investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management announced an offer to buy Universal Music Group in a cash-and-stock transaction it valued at about $64 billion. The proposal would merge Universal Music with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, an acquisition company approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023.
Pershing Square said the combined company would be based in Nevada and that its stock listing would move from Amsterdam to the New York Stock Exchange. Pershing Square expects the transaction to close by the end of the year, according to the company.
In a statement Tuesday, Ackman said, “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction,” according to the Associated Press.
Pershing Square’s offer was described as a total cash-and-stock value of 30.40 euros per share, or $35.12. Based on Universal Music’s outstanding shares, the deal would value the label at approximately 56 billion euros.
Under the proposed terms, Universal Music shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, or 5.05 euros per share, and 0.77 shares of the newly created company’s stock for each Universal Music share they own. Universal Music did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Associated Press reported.
The offer follows Ackman’s earlier attempt to invest in Universal Music. In 2021, Ackman walked away from a deal that would have given him a 10% stake in the company, citing questions from the SEC about whether the structure of a special-purpose acquisition company would allow such an acquisition under New York Stock Exchange rules.
Shares of Universal Music rose more than 10% in midday trading in Amsterdam, the Associated Press said.