FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Universal Music Group Shares Slump After Exit of Bill Ackman's Pershing Square

By
Universal Music Group Shares Slump After Exit of Bill Ackman's Pershing Square

Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) dropped 7% in Thursday morning trade as Bill Ackman pulled out his investment in the music giant, days after a takeover offer worth 55.6 billion euros from his investment firm Pershing Square was rejected.

Ackman held a 4.74% interest in UMG as of March 2025, according to UMG's website. The Wall Street Journal pegged the value of his entire stake, through various Pershing Square funds, at over $1.5 billion in a Thursday report.

From the divestment, UMG bought back 14,156,285 ordinary shares at 17.66 euros apiece or 250 million euros in aggregate. The repurchase was made outside of the company's existing 500 million-euro share buyback program.

The world's biggest music company aims to use the repurchased shares to meet its obligations under a 2022 global equity plan and/or to trim its share capital.

Pershing Square launched a business-combination bid in April, offering UMG shareholders 9.4 billion euros, or 5.05 euros per share, in cash, along with 0.77 share of new UMG stock for each share held. The combined cash-and-stock consideration was estimated at 30.40 euros per share.

However, the board of the music giant turned down the proposal, saying it "fundamentally and materially" undervalued the company and failed to provide superior value for shareholders.

Related Articles

Cooler-than-expected Swiss Inflation Holds Steady in May; Unemployment Rises
US Markets

Cooler-than-expected Swiss Inflation Holds Steady in May; Unemployment Rises

Switzerland's annual inflation unexpectedly remained at 0.6% in May, while the country's jobless rate marginally ticked up, according to economic data published Thursday.The annual inflation figure lagged the market forecast of 0.8% but remained at the highest level since December 2024 as lingering tensions in the Middle East continue to prop up energy costs. Similarly, the 0.2% monthly uptick was behind the prior month's and expected 0.3% gain.According to the country's Federal Statistical Office, the yearly increase was largely due to a spike in housing, energy and transport costs. Meanwhile, the month-over-month result was driven by rising prices in the hotel sector and higher housing rental costs.Excluding volatile items such as fresh and seasonal products, energy and fuel, annual inflation still stood at 0.3%, unchanged from the previous month. Meanwhile, core inflation moved month over month to 0.1% from zero growth.Swiss inflation still sits within the 0% to 2% target range of the Swiss National Bank (SNBN.SW), which is scheduled to release a monetary policy update on June 18. During the SNB's March meeting, the policy rate remained unchanged at 0% but the central bank raised its conditional inflation forecast for 2026 to 0.5% from 0.3%.On the employment front, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed that the Swiss seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.1% in May from 3% a month earlier. The total number of registered jobless individuals climbed to 144,652, representing a monthly increase of 2,583.

$^SSMI$SNBN.SW
Partners Group Caps Withdrawals from Evergreen Fund, Warns More Limits to Come
US Markets

Partners Group Caps Withdrawals from Evergreen Fund, Warns More Limits to Come

Partners Group (PGHN.SW) capped withdrawals from one of its evergreen funds and warned it could impose similar limits on its other funds as heightened volatility leads to a surge in redemption requests.In a market update released Thursday, the Swiss alternative asset manager said it had capped withdrawals from its Luxembourg-domiciled Global Value Sicav fund at 5% of net asset value per quarter following elevated redemption activity in the second quarter. Redemption requests reached 9.8% of NAV during the period.The firm attributed the increase in withdrawals to heightened volatility in open-ended evergreen fund flows, a trend that first emerged in private credit vehicles before more recently spreading to private equity. Partners noted that repurchase requests for a Delaware, US-domiciled private equity evergreen vehicle will be slightly above the company's threshold of 5% of NAV.Partners Group shares dropped more than 16% on Wednesday, when news of the redemption cap first broke. The stock has since rebounded and was up nearly 4% early Thursday.Amid rising redemption requests from investors, the company is also preparing to introduce withdrawal limits for its US-focused Private Equity Master Fund in the "coming weeks," London's Financial Times reported the same day, citing unnamed sources."Partners Group has consistently communicated to clients and market participants that its evergreen vehicles are typically equipped with liquidity limits of up to 5% of NAV per quarter, and that these limits would be enacted whenever redemption activity reached the designed threshold," the company said. "As a result, GV SICAV will operate the 5% quarterly liquidity limitation. The firm is prepared to enact the respective liquidity limitation mechanism across other funds."The company expects net assets under management growth to be 1% to 2% slower in the second half of 2026 due to the impact of the evergreen funds, with a similar effect anticipated in full-year 2027.

$PGHN.SW
Thai Business Confidence Pressured by Persian Gulf Hostilities
US Markets

Thai Business Confidence Pressured by Persian Gulf Hostilities

Higher fuel bills and the unresolved Strait of Hormuz closure undercut Thailand business confidence in May, reported the Bank of Thailand.Thailand's Business Sector Index fell to 42.5 in May from 43.5 in April, striking further below the 50-mark that separates optimism from pessimism."In May, the Business Sentiment Index (BSI) declined due to the prolonged Middle East conflict, which weakened the manufacturing index, while the non-manufacturing index remained stable at a low level," said the central bank. "High production cost was the top concern for doing business for the third consecutive month."Confidence especially waned in Thailand's petrochemical and plastics industries, which faced sharper higher bills in their feedstocks derived from crude oil, and also prospects of supply shortages.About 50% of Thailand's imported oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz, before the current conflict there closed the vital passageway, reported NBT World, a government news service.Confidence in Thailand's hotel and restaurant sector also declined, with sentiment sinking to the lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, as tourist arrivals slowed.Thailand's food and beverage industry confidence also waned, as producers were pressured by packaging costs that have risen by 30% to 50% "compared to the pre-conflict period," said Bank of Thailand. In addition, the food industry in May faced delayed orders from the Middle East, due in part to high freight rates.Thailand businesses in May expected inflation in the 2.7% range for the next 12 months, down from the 2.9% rate anticipated in April, though still up from the sub-2% rate expected before the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in late February.However, Thailand businesses were less pessimistic in May than in April, with the three-month expected business confidence index rising to 46.9 in May from 40.9 in April, though still striking below the 50-mark.In the manufacturing sector, "raw material shortages eased, despite high raw material price pressures," noted the Bank of Thailand, due in part to national government actions to release petroleum reserves.Among Thailand's service industries, the mood in the transportation sector in May improved due in part to better supplies and some ability of transporters to pass on higher fuel bills.The Bank of Thailand May BSI survey had more than 660 respondents, from large and medium-size firms. The questionnaires were distributed during the first week of May.

$^SET